“Tulane has rolled through their first four games but they are going to be too much for the Florida Gators today as Caesar Jenkins will be back in the starting lineup. The Green Wave offense was scary with Jason Williams on the receiving end of passes from Darren Eguia but now the senior quarterback has two big options.”

…

“Former number one recruit Caesar Jenkins returns to action today after serving a four-game suspension. Reports out of New Orleans say that he was less than spectacular in practice this past week but you can never count out a receiver who reeled in sixty passes in his freshman season.”

…

“It’s the day that Green Wave fans have been waiting for since Jason Williams committed to play his college football with Tulane. The top two receivers from the past two recruiting classes will finally be on the field together.”

…

“I’m calling it now. When it is all said and done, Caesar Jenkins and Jason Williams will go down in history as the greatest receiving duo to ever grace the football field. Of course, Jenkins likely only has one more full season to go as everyone suspects him to declare for the 2055 NFL Draft but these kids are good enough that they will shock the world in the next season and a half.”

Every football fan and media outlet in the southeast had their eyes on Gainesville for what was a big matchup in more ways than one. For some, Caesar’s first game since last season had overshadowed the actual game but that was only a smart part in a game that had major title implications in both the BCS and SEC races.

Tulane was ranked tenth and undefeated at 4-0. Should they manage to survive today, many pegged them to finish the season perfect even though the toughest away games on their schedule were still to come. The month of November would determine how far the Green Wave come since they’d begun their building process years ago.

Florida was ranked seventh and also undefeated but at 5-0. The SEC East was on a downward swing as of late and had turned into a two-horse race. The Gators just had to beat the Green Wave and Florida State at home and they’d likely be on their way to a National Championship appearance. Some believed LSU would give them a run for their money but the Gators wouldn’t let them derail their season.

No matter the story you were following, the game was easily the biggest of the weekend if not the season so far.

…

“Tyrone Havas fields the ball at the three yard line. He starts up field and is quickly chewing up the yardage. He’s running out of room now and cuts to the left but three Florida defenders are there to bring him down at the twenty-six yard line where Tulane will begin their first drive of the game.”

“The Gator fans aren’t showing any love to the Tulane offense as they jog out onto the field especially embattled receiver Caesar Jenkins.”

Caesar laughed to himself as he made his way towards the huddle. The Florida fans who were behind the bench were pretty creative in the things that they shouted towards him. They’d come a long way from the days of jean shorts, mullets, and overzealous Christian fanatics but that didn’t mean that he had any intentions of taking it easy on their team.

“Is that the play where I run around in circles until you throw me the ball?” Caesar asked.

Darren shook his head as they broke the huddle, “Don’t f*** with me, Jenkins. I’m going to be looking for you coming off that cut so make sure you have your damn hands up to catch it.”

“Aye, aye, el capitan!” Caesar shouted with a mock salute.

…

“Darren Eguia’s back in the shotgun with Jenkins to the left of the formation and Jason Williams on the opposite side. Wendell Jones is in the slot. Havas and Brandon Hawkins in the backfield on either side of the quarterback. Here’s the snap. Eguia hits Jenkins right as he makes his cut an—he’s dropped the ball! He had tons of room but he couldn’t bring the ball in!”

Caesar looked down at his hands in utter disbelief. He felt the ball touch his hands. He closed them around the ball or so he thought. He’d heard of having alligator arms but things like that didn’t happen to him. He didn’t just drop passes.

Stealing a glance into the backfield, he could see that his quarterback wasn’t too happy about him dropping a pass that he was shouldn’t have. Of course in Caesar’s mind, that was for the best. He didn’t want anyone to placate to him. He didn’t want anyone to coddle him and tell him that it was okay that he screwed up a routine play.

As the offense lined up for second down, Darren looked to the sideline where Coach Xavier was sending in an audible. He wasn’t too pleased about the outcome of the opening play either and immediately abandoned the air-it-out game plan.

…

“Eguia takes it himself and scoots to the outside. He makes a linebacker miss and picks up a nice block from Brandon Hawkins. Ducks under a hit and goes down at the thirty-four yard line for a nice eight yard gain on the play.”

…

“Back to the air on third down… Wait! Eguia hands it off to Tyrone Havas on the draw and the defense is none the wiser. Havas slips through the middle of the line but his ankle is grabbed on the way through and he stumbles forward for another five yards before going down. The Gators dodged a bullet on that one. Havas had nothing but open field ahead of him.”

…

“First and ten from their own forty-two yard line for the Green Wave. They’re back in their base set: three wide, one tight end, and one in the backfield. Eguia gets the snap and hands it off to—No, he still has it and is rolling to his right. He finds Jason Williams wide open. The freshman rips off seventeen yards before being shoved out of bounds.”

…

“First down again. Eguia tries to take it himself up the middle but he is pushed back by a strong surge from the Florida defense. It doesn’t look like he gained much there. Nope, the referees are giving him a yard.”

…

“Second and nine from the Gators’ forty yard line. A quick pass from Darren Eguia to Jenkins and he manages to pull this one in but doesn’t get much more after the catch and goes down after a gain of only five yards.”

…

“Third and four from the thirty-five. Tulane is setting up a screen for Havas. Eguia gets it out to him and he has a convoy leading the way. He reels off twelve yards before a Florida defender finally manages to drag him down.”

…

“The Green Wave are in striking distance now on the Florida twenty-three yard line. Here’s the snap, there’s the fake, and Eguia has Caesar Jenkins running across the endzone wide open. Throws it to him… but it bounces off his hands! WHOA! JASON WILLIAMS JUST CAME OUT OF NOWHERE TO CATCH THE BALL! That was heading towards the ground and the freshman receiver just stretched out like an outfielder at Fenway to reel it in! Touchdown Green Wave!”

Caesar angrily ripped off his chin strap as soon as he saw the touchdown signaled. He didn’t know who’d caught the ball and he didn’t care because it wasn’t him and it should have been. Dropping the first pass was bad, but dropping a wide open touchdown was a million times worse.

The nearby Florida fans weren’t making it any easier for him as they shouted taunts at him. After the longest walk back to the bench of his life, he felt the need to take out a bit of his frustration and threw his helmet into the nearby Gatorade containers. He didn’t give a damn how hot it was. He wasn’t going to be drinking the product forged at this school.

Tyrone attempted to part some words of encouragement on him, but Caesar shoved him away and sat on the bench away from any of his teammates.

…

Under the tutelage of Urban Meyer in the 2000’s, Florida was known for running the ball. Will Muschamp moved them towards a more pro-style system in the 2010’s. These days, they were back to running an option-based offense centered around a huge quarterback who had a big arm albeit an arm that might not be able to place the ball within three yards of the receiver.

Senior quarterback DeMarius Owens had been that man for the Gators since signing with them three years ago. The Gainesville native was 6’4” and all of 265 pounds. He ran a 4.6 and could throw the ball sixty yards from his knees, but he left something to be desired when it came to placing his passes and that was what the Green Wave defense hoped to take advantage of.

…

“Here comes the University of Florida’s most beloved player DeMarius Owens to take his place in the Gators’ run heavy offense. It’ll be interesting to see what the Green Wave have planned for Owens as Tulane is known for putting a lot of speed on the field and simply overwhelming their opponents. The ball is snapped and just about every Green Wave defender not with a hand on the ground has dropped back into coverage. It looks like they are daring Owens to make a play with his arm.

The Gators are beating back Tulane’s four man rush but there is no one open downfield. Owens finally brings the ball down and takes it himself but only gains three yards before a pair of Green Wave players converge and bring him to the ground.”

…

“Second and seven from the Florida twenty-five. Owens is in the pistol with three backs around him and two receivers out wide. Tulane is showing blitz but I don’t think anyone is falling for that. Owens has the ball now, fakes the handoff and takes it back against the grain. Devin King and Bobby Chambers are there to corral him in, he has nowhere to go. Picking the lesser of two evils, he lowers his shoulder on the freshman and plows forward for three yards.”

…

“An important down for the Gators early on in the game. Third and four, likely out of range for any type of run play. Quick snap from Owens and an even faster pass as he flips it out to Frank Harris in the flat. He has a little room as the Tulane players were caught in the middle of their backpedal. He makes a break for the sideline. Christian Pincus meets him right at the sticks and throws himself into the hit! It’s going to be close! Does he have it?

The referees are measuring it. It’s too close to call but they are signaling that he got it! First down, Florida! That’s the way to get the blood flowing!”

Little did the color commentator know, that play was an example of what Tulane was attempting to do to control Florida’s offense. They knew they could get to the ball carriers much quicker than their previous opponents and decided to employ “bend-but-don’t-break” tactics to go along with their heavy dosage of zone defense.

Florida continued to attempt to pound their way down the field not netting much more than a few yards on every play. As soon as they crossed midfield, the Green Wave tightened their defense to play a shorter field making it extremely difficult for the Gators offense to work as they had come to expect over the past few years.

The drive finally came to a grinding halt at the thirty-one yard line and Florida was forced to settle for the field goal.

…

“The Green Wave offense is back on the field after the Tyrone Havas return and they will be looking to extend their lead. Darren Eguia is in the shotgun with four receivers out wide. As always, Havas is in the backfield with him. Eguia gets the ball from center and throws it to Caesar Jenkins on the left side of the formation. Jenkins is dancing behind Victor Armstrong waiting for him to block one of the two corners.

Jenkins scoots around his teammate but Billy Green wraps himself around the big receiver. It’s going to take a lot more than that to bring him down though. Cole Bryant joins in on the tackle but Jenkins is dragging both of them forward. Here comes Winston Reed to finish it off and THE BALL IS LOOSE! Reed jarred it loose with a crushing hit! It’s a scramble for the ball! Armstrong tries to pick it up but he kicks it further down the field. Arthur Kompany scoops the ball up for the Gators! He practically throws Havas off him and starts towards the endzone! Rumblin’ and stumblin’, he gets across the goal line with Eguia hanging on his ankles. Touchdown Gators!”

Caesar threw his hands up in defeat as he watched the Florida players celebrate in the endzone. He thought a big play would snap him out of his funk but he made a bone-headed mistake. When Bryant wrapped around him, he raised the arm carrying the ball, easy pickings for Reed to knock out.

He couldn’t remember starting a game so poorly in his life. This wasn’t something he knew how to deal with.

…

Tulane’s defense continued to hold strong throughout the rest of the half as their offense struggled to find a way to get their star receiver back on track. The Gators added a field goal midway through the second quarter after a grueling drive that featured more than a handful of huge blocks and even bigger hits on ball carriers.

Tyrone gave the Green Wave back the lead only minutes later as he returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown. Florida attempted to execute their two minute offense but with Tulane already sitting back and forcing them to nickel and dime their way down the field it ended up being for naught and they resigned themselves to going into the locker room down a point.

The story remained to be Caesar’s inability to do anything other than make himself look like an inept scrub who would be suffering through one of the worst sophomore slumps anyone had ever seen if he kept playing the way he did in the first half of this game.

He had four catches in the half, but also had three drops to go along with the fumble. That was not counting the missed blocks that left Tyrone or Desmond susceptible to being destroyed by a waiting linebacker or safety.

It wasn’t pretty to say the least.

…

“We’re back underway here in Gainesville after the return by Mark Bilas. It’s getting hotter as the sun continues its descent in the sky and we’re hoping that the action will heat up as well. DaMarius Owens takes the field once again and Coach Blake Monroe didn’t look too happy about the way the Green Wave were playing his star at halftime.

The Green Wave come out in their base five defensive back set against Florida’s ‘diamond’ formation. Scott Garcia is creeping towards the line of scrimmage but Owens ignores him as Tulane has only blitzed twice so far in this game. Owens calls for the snap. Garcia drops out into coverage but Derrick Neal is coming on the blitz! No one picked up the senior and he is on a bee-line towards the quarterback. Owens tries to make a move but Neal keeps him lined up and is closing the gap. Owens steps up to get the ball away just as Neal makes the hit. Whoa! Look at that arm strength! It looks like it’s going to go forty yards but there is no one there to catch it. No, wait a minute! Devin King is running to get under the ball! Can he do it? Turns. Jumps. CATCHES IT! HE PICKED IT OFF! First, Jason Williams makes an amazing catch for the touchdown. Now, Devin King makes an even better catch for the interception! These Tulane players have figure skater-esque body control!”

Devin rolled to his feet moments before being mobbed by his teammates. After almost being taken out by Geoff, Christian righted him on his feet and Devin tossed the ball to the nearest referee.

“You were watching enough film to know he could throw it fifty yards while being hit?” the senior asked as the two left the field.

“Honestly? No, I just took a gamble and hoped it wouldn’t be short enough to fall to a wide open receiver,” Devin answered sheepishly.

Christian laughed and clapped him on the shoulder, “Good thing it wasn’t. Coach would have had your head if that receiver broke for more than ten yards.”

…

“Option play for the Green Wave on first down. Darren Eguia catches the Gators overplaying the pitchman and a fake to Tyrone Havas opens up more space for him. Don’t let his position fool you, this kid can move! He spins John Broussard all in knots before juking around Kevin Allen. Nothing but green ahead of him. Show those NFL scouts that 4.4 speed, kid! He’s going to take it all the way and just like that, it’s 21-13 Green Wave!”

…

“Once again, the Green Wave have forced the Gators to settle for a field goal after driving deep into their opponent’s territory. It’s been a long day for Florida but it’s not going to get any easier if they don’t find a way to open up this Tulane defense.”

…

“Darren Eguia drops back to throw on third and long. He has all the time in the world in the pocket as the Gators try to keep him in the backfield. He steps up and throws it to Caesar Jenkins but it falls harmlessly to the turf. That one was all on the receiver, though. Jenkins zigged when he should have zagged. Eguia is really laying into the sophomore as the two walk off the field. They just haven’t been able to get on the same page today.”

…

“Another drive stalls for Florida and yes, another field goal from them. They’ve whittled the lead to two points now here in the early goings of the fourth quarter but if they keep going at the pace they are, they aren’t going to be able to score again before the clock runs out.”

…

“The Green Wave have finally found a way to drive all the way back down the field albeit with Caesar Jenkins on the sideline as his day seems to be over. Nonetheless, Tulane has to score here to put the game out of reach. Eguia calls for the ball, fakes the handoff to Havas and starts towards the wide side of the field with Smith on an option. Wait! He stops and throws a rocket through a pair of defenders and right into Brandon Hawkins’ hands. The tight end is at the fifteen, the ten, the five, touchdown!”

…

“Last gasp for the Gators here in the waning seconds of the fourth quarter. Owens throws it deep but Christian Pincus is there to bat it away. The Tulane offense will take the field to run out the clock and get away with a 28-19 win here in Gainesville.”

Caesar stared at the bottle of vodka in his hands. He’d been in his room for hours since the team had gotten back from Gainesville. Most of the players were making their way to all the parties around campus. Darren and Tyrone had attempted to get him to join them but he didn’t feel like finding somewhere to sleep or attempt to get back into the dorm unnoticed past the curfew he was still being forced to abide by. At least, that was the excuse he used. The truth was he didn’t want to be around them after embarrassing himself on the field.

“I didn’t take you as much of a football person,” Caesar mumbled to his roommate before taking a swig from the bottle. Chasen and one of his friends were watching one of the west coast night games, San Diego State against Hawaii.

“I just don’t like Tulane football,” he clarified.

“No school spirit,” Caesar laughed as he continued to glare at the bottle. He was surprised he found a gas station willing to break the law to sell him alcohol but he was glad he did. There was no way he was going to get much sleep without getting hammered first.

Chasen’s friend turned towards him and eyed him for a moment before gesturing towards the half empty bottle, “Don’t you think you are going at that a little hard? I know Chasen doesn’t want to spend the night cleaning up puke.”

Caesar pointed at the bottle and the boy nodded then Caesar tilted the bottle up to his mouth and took a bigger gulp. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, shrugged, and shook his head. The liquid burned his throat but through years of drinking he’d built up a tolerance to it. Still, he’d rather something to take away the edge of the alcohol.

“You should try weed to make you forget things,” the friend said.

“I get drug tested, genius,” Caesar spat, rolling his eyes. “How about next time you decide to make a suggestion, you make one that isn’t f***ing retarded?”

“Do you have to be a prick all the time?” Chasen asked.

“Nope, just most of the time,” Caesar answered. He slowly got up from the bed, almost hitting his head on the top bunk in the process. He wavered on his legs a bit as the effects of the alcohol hit him but he was able to regain his composure.

He picked up a much smaller bottle of whiskey and slipped it into his back pocket. With a nod to the other two occupants in the room, he left with the other bottle still in his grasp. As soon as he stepped out into the hall, he saw the guy who occupied the opposite room making his way down the corridor with books piled in his arms to his chin.

“Hey, man. You think you can give me a hand?” he asked, nodding towards the key hanging from his fingers.

With the tact of a pirate, he reached into his pocket and retrieved his cell phone before raising his now filled hands hopelessly, “Can’t, my hands are full. Sorry about that.” He brushed past the boy on his way down the hall and heard him mumble a few choice words under his breathe but couldn’t be bothered with him. No one should be carrying that many books at 12:15 am on a Sunday morning.

Somehow, his feet took him to the elevator and he ended up on the first floor but he knew he couldn’t leave the dorm if he planned to return before morning. His key was locked in the R.A.’s room while he was in the building to make sure his curfew was enforced. He felt like a damn child.

Looking down at the phone, he decided he needed some entertain and called Hayden who answered after a few rings.

“Hello?” she asked, her voice was weary and groggy. Of course, she would have been asleep when the entire campus was probably one giant party.

“What are you doing right now?” he asked even though he knew the answer.

“Sleeping, Caesar. What time is it?”

“A quarter after.”

“A quarter after what?”

“Midnight.”

“Midnight?” she asked suddenly sounding aggravated. “What do you want?”

“For you to get your pretty ass over to Detillier because I’m horny, possibly drunk, and definitely bored. It’s too early to be asleep anyway.”

She sighed, “No, Caesar. I don’t feel like dealing with you while you are drunk and you’re not getting any from me for a week so you can get that out of your mind as well. I’m on my period. I’m going to go back to sleep now.”

Before he could say anything, he heard the click of the line disconnecting. He knew he should be ecstatic to hear she was on her period. She’d been so worried that he had gotten her pregnant that he had actually began to worry as well but at the moment he was only angry because he had to find something else to do.

Staring at the exit, he was hit with a stroke of genius. He finished off the rest of the vodka and staggered over to the door. He shoved it open and placed the bottle in the way so it wouldn’t close. Then, he walked over to a nearby tree and grabbed a low hanging branch. After a sharp tug, the branch snapped loose and he fell on his ass. It wasn’t the most graceful thing he’d done that was for sure.

Breaking it into a smaller piece, he tested its strength before replacing the bottle with it. He chuckled lightly to himself when the branch held the heavy door open. It would probably break later but he was pleased with his handiwork and knew he would be able to wander around campus for a while and returned to his room to go to sleep if he wanted to.

No one seemed to be out and about. Hell, Tulane’s campus always seemed quiet no matter what was happening on it or around. Well, except when there was a football game. There must have been some raging party going on but that wasn’t what he was looking for. He was already drunk after all.

He had walked for only ten minutes when his knees grew weak and he found himself stumbling again. He sat down in the grass off the sidewalk knowing he was going to end up the ground sooner or later. Lying down he fished the bottle of whiskey from his pocket and opened it up, swinging his hand over it to waft the smell towards him.

He drank some it and immediately began coughing as it went down. Closing his eyes, he settled into the grass with the bottle pressed against his chest like an infant. It was a nice autumn night. He always did enjoy Louisiana’s fall. It wasn’t too hot, it wasn’t too cold, and being close to the gulf and the lake there was always a nice breeze coming in.

“Caesar?”

Rolling over onto his side, he saw three pairs of legs above him. Taking another gulp from the bottle, he turned over until he could sit up. Three girls stood staring down at him as if he was a homeless man. Two of them he had only seen in passing, but there was no mistaking the black-haired one in the middle even if he wasn’t on the best terms with her. Of course in his inebriated state, he had no problem letting past transgressions slide

“Well, hello Sophie,” he slurred. “What brings you out at this time of night?”

She gave him a once over and shook her head. She was so used to seeing him put together even when he was wearing a plain t-shirt and a pair of basketball shorts as he was now, but the image he was portraying at the moment actually made her pity him.

His hair was all over the place and he had black circles under his eyes. He was drunk as hell and she knew it was because he played bad in the game. She’d heard about his mood swings from Kaley when they were dating but never really saw it first-hand. He obviously didn’t know how to handle failure too well.

“Just leaving a party,” she said. “Why are you on the ground?”

Caesar ran his hand through the grass before drinking more of the whiskey. He had stopped tasting the burn of the liquid, “Because it seemed like it would be comfortable and I have to say that I was wrong at all. Would you like to join me?”

“No, I don’t think it’ll be as comfortable for me. I’m not wasted. Do you want me to help you back to your room?” she asked, reaching a hand out to help him up.

“I’m only going back to my room if I’m getting a foursome with you three,” he laughed.

He brought the bottle up to his lips but Sophie quickly snatched it out of his hand causing some of it to spill onto him.

“I think you’ve had enough,” she said, pouring the liquor out into the grass. She turned to the two girls with her. “I’m going to take him somewhere otherwise we’ll be hearing about him walking out into traffic.”

One of them eyed him wearily, “You’re sure? You can leave him here. No one would blame you.”

“I’m sure,” Sophie said. She knew why they were saying that. A drunk guy Caesar’s size could probably overpower most people but she knew Caesar well enough to know that as long as he wasn’t angry then he wouldn’t get violent.

The two girls nodded and went on their way. Sophie sighed and tossed the now empty bottle over her shoulder. She grabbed Caesar’s arm and tried to drag him to his feet but ended up falling down on top of him when he didn’t lift most of his weight.

“Come on, Caesar. You are f***ing heavy. Stand up,” she said as she stood up herself and brushed off her clothes. Reaching out, she grabbed his arm and this time he helped her by dragging himself to his feet. He stumbled but she was able to right him before he went down again.

“You’re a good friend, Sophie,” Caesar laughed. He leaned on her and she helped him walk. “I remember us being in this same situation last year.”

Sophie rolled her eyes remembering the night he was talking about. She’d already decided to take him back to her room, but was close to changing her mind and leaving him on a bench or leaning against a tree. Luckily for him, she didn’t have the heart to leave him out in the elements.

They somehow made their way across campus without Caesar falling, but he did decide to serenade her with ancient love songs from the 1950’s. She didn’t know any of the artists but that didn’t keep her from laughing at him.

Their luck ran out as soon as they got to Sophie’s dorm room. Caesar was leaning against the door and when she opened it, he crashed to the floor.

“F***,” he mumbled as he tried to find something to pull himself up.

Sophie turned on a lamp and pulled him up to his knees so he could find his own way to his feet or remain on the floor if he so chose. She was lucky her roommate was a heavy sleeper otherwise she would have been raising hell that she was making so much noise at this time.

“You can sleep on the floor. There’s a waste basket right there if you feel like you are going to throw,” she said gathering some more comfortable clothes to sleep in. She debated going down the hall to the bathroom but Caesar had seen her naked before so trying to be modest in front of him would be stupid.

“You’re one sexy girl, Sophie,” Caesar said. He had gotten into her bed and was laying on his back staring at the ceiling, but he glanced at her a few times while she was changing. “You know my bitch turned me down tonight? Who turns down a good f***ing from me, right?”

She shook her head and shoved him towards the wall so she could also get into her bed, “Don’t ask me because I’ll turn you down as well. Now, go to sleep and make sure that you don’t throw up in my f***ing bed.”

“Christian, turn the radio up,” Devin said almost pleadingly, rubbing his temples in an attempt to beat back the headache that was quickly starting to develop.

Rose had been babbling away about the possibility of working on her tan for the past twenty minutes and he was seriously regretting his decision to not only go on this impromptu beach trip but suggesting that they go to Grand Isle instead of somewhere closer.

Bad traffic wasn’t making the trip go any quicker. It seemed like everyone in the Greater New Orleans area had chosen this day to get away though Devin was sure that not many of them had a plan formulated by a group of drunken football players.

That tidbit alone would explain their decision to pull off the ultimate clown car trick of stuffing thirteen young adults into two SUVs. Bobby had the unenviable designation as the thirteenth wheel to find himself wedged between Rose and the door. Devin refused to give any space to the freshman, not with Rose’s incessant talking.

Jason joined his defensive backfield brethren, sitting in the back of the vehicle with some girl he’d met the night prior. They’d had a bit of a bonding experience over how uncomfortable they were sitting around ice chests filled with beer.

Being the oldest, Christian took it upon himself to drive. Devin believed it was so his supposed girlfriend Sue wouldn’t have to end up in an awkward position. She seemed to be on the quiet side and would probably need a little time to get used to sorority girls and boisterous athletes. More importantly, he wanted to know if Christian had really decided to date an Asian girl named Sue. Surely, there was one floating around with a less cliché name.

Derrick, Scott, and Adrian were in the vehicle behind them. The old rule was that you did not bring sand to the beach when it came to women, but they all seemed to decide that the day would be better with a few softer bodies along for the trip. Well, all of them except for Bobby.

“You know, it’s kinda hard to have a conversation with you when you aren’t talking back,” Rose said, poking Devin to get his attention.

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye before turning back to the scenery slowly passing by, “I can’t hold a conversation with someone talking about tanning, Rose. I’m black. Becoming darker was never on my to-do list.”

“You mean you never wanted a few shades so you can fit in with the people when you visit the motherland?” Jason asked drawing a fit of giggles for the girl with him.

“I want to visit the ‘motherland’ as much as you want to visit yours, Rodriguez,” Devin shot back.

“I’m not Mexican,” the safety said, furrowing his eyebrows.

Devin laughed and shook his head, “Every guilty mind is its own hangman. I never said you were.”

“I would advise against y’all engaging in a battle of minds. There is no way that it will end without both of you getting hurt,” Christian chided.

“Us common folk are safe as long as we stay away from you brainiac,” Jason joked.

The senior laughed dryly, “You are all going to miss me next year when I’m not around to help you with those simple gen. ed. classes that everyone seems to be holding off until their last few semesters. Then you’ll wish you didn’t try to insult my immense intelligence.”

Devin and Jason exchanged looks before Devin started clapping slowly. Soon, Jason joined in and they were giving Christian an impromptu round of applause while the other occupants of the vehicle stared at them as if they had sprouted another head.

“What are you two clapping for?”

“Because Christian usually doesn’t admit that he is the smartest football player in the history of football players so I decided that I would clap for that,” Devin clarified. “Luckily, Jason and I have had this conversation before so he knew what I was doing.”

“Wouldn’t want King to look crazier than he already is,” Jason nodded.

The banter died down as soon as the traffic did. Outside of the small suggests from Devin for a better route, they rode in silence. It always amazed Devin how quickly the scenery changed when driving through Louisiana. One moment you would be in the middle of the city and the next you would be in the middle of nowhere surrounded by trees and swamps. It didn’t help that they were heading towards the edge of the world.

“Is he asleep back there?” Christian asked as he hopped out of the car and looked over his shoulder where Devin was fast asleep against the door. “Someone wake him up.”

Rose reached over to shake him awake but Jason quickly grabbed her wrist, “No, I got this. I know what will wake him up.”

She gave him a weird look but eventually acquiesced and got out of the SUV on the opposite side leaving Devin. Jason slipped out the back as quietly as possible and jogged around to Devin’s door. He slowly pulled the handle until it opened slightly.

“WAKE UP, BITCH!” he shouted as he yanked the door open and moved out of the way just as Devin fell out of the vehicle. He woke mid-fall but was not able to stop himself from hitting the ground in a heap. Luckily, his shoulder broke his fall and saved his face from the pavement.

“What the f***, man?” Devin asked drowsily.

Christian, Jason and Bobby’s eyes were all wide with laughter as Devin seemed to be trying to figure out how he got from the seat to the ground. He dragged himself up against the nearby tire and looked at his friends for answers.

“That was f***ed up, Jason,” Christian laughed. He reached a hand out to Devin and helped him to his feet. “Come on, let’s get the s*** out of the back.”

Devin rubbed his shoulder and realized that Jason was probably behind him ending up on the ground. In any other situation, he probably would have already begun formulating a plan to get him back but he was still half asleep.

“Are you okay?” Rose asked, pressing herself against him.

“Oh no, you don’t. You let him do it.”

“I didn’t know that he was going to do that,” she pouted.

Devin lifted the sleeve of his shirt and brushed the gravel away to see his arm was okay. No harm, no foul. “I guess I’ll forgive you.”

He gave her a chaste kiss before slowly making his way to help the guys get the coolers. He was a bit surprised when Derrick pulled up with another three coolers. There was no way they were going to drink all that beer and make it back to New Orleans in one piece.

“Alright, fellas,” Adrian said, rubbing his hands together anxiously. “I’m not lifting this heavy ass s*** when we leave so we have to do the only sensible thing to get rid of it. Christian has agreed not to get wasted but…”

Scott turned to Bobby and placed a hand on his shoulder, “But we’re volunteering you to be the other designated driver because you shouldn’t be drinking anyway, youngster.”

“That’s f***ed up. No bitch and no alcohol. What the hell do you want me to do?”

“You’re a creative young man, figure it out,” Derrick laughed as he headed for the beach with a petite black girl tucked under his arm and dragging a cooler with the other.

It was only then as he watched the group head out one by one that Devin realized that he only remembered two of the six girls’ names. The only reason he remembered Sue was because he’d heard Christian say her name a few times before they left.

Devin wrapped his arm around Rose’s shoulders and pulled her to him when the others had cleared out, “Do you remember all those girls’ names?”

“You mean to tell me that you’ve forgotten?” she asked with a cheeky grin.

“I never remembered,” he admitted.

“That’s pretty sad, Devin. The black girl is Kelly. The one with Scott is Ashlyn, and the one with Adrian is Brooke,” she said, pointing them out as she went along. “Kadie is with Jason and Sue is the quiet one with Christian.”

He nodded as he tried to commit that all to memory. Kelly and Sue would be easy to remember but the other three were carbon copies of one another, the same cloth that Rose was cut from. Different hair color, a little less here or a little extra here, but all the same. He was tempted to call them all “Thing 1” through “Thing 4.”

“Come on,” he said motioning towards the rest of the group.

He was determined to have a decent time knowing it would be a while before they would be able to have some serious downtime like this. The rest of their games were all primetime matchups or away games, and at this point in their season they would have to buckle down to reach their goal of Tulane’s first undefeated season since 1998.

What he didn’t expect was to receive celebrity treatment from everyone around them…

The players had all forgotten that Tulane was no longer the little academic juggernaut that had forgettable athletes. After only half an hour lounging out in the sun, people began to realize who they were. Once a sizeable circle formed around them, more people became curious as to what the commotion was on Grand Isle’s quiet beach.

Devin must have taken fifty pictures, most of which with girls once he’d decided to discard his shirt, by the time the crowd dispersed. Needless to say, Rose wasn’t too happy about the female attention he was getting especially when one too many pushed her out of the way to get closer to him.

Noticing the pout on her face, he scooped her up and tossed her over his shoulder causing her to shriek in shock, “You’re not mad at me, are you?”

“Yes, I’m mad at you. Now, put me down!”

“I’m not going to put you down until you say you aren’t angry. You’re going to spoil the mood,” he said, walking towards the water.

“Devin, I’m going to kill you if you throw me in the water!”

He raised his free hand to his ear and acted as if he couldn’t hear her just as he’d gotten close enough to that the waves lapped against his ankles. She tried to wiggle out of his grasp, but he was too strong for her. Breaking out into a jog, he went out until the water was almost up to his waist.

“DEV-“

Devin cut her off when he swung her off his shoulder and dropped her into the water. He couldn’t contain his laughter as she resurfaced spluttering, but he did reach a hand out to help her up. Taking the opportunity for revenge, she pulled him into the water. That started an aquatic wrestling match that Devin somehow found himself on the losing end of. He chalked it up to not being as agile underwater as he was on dry land.

“Alright, I give,” he said holding his hands up in surrender. He leaned back so he was floating and treading water. “I never knew you were so manly.”

“Don’t be a sore loser,” she shot back, swimming over to him.

“You cheated, though. You have two floatation devices on your chest. I’m just a two hundred twenty pound man,” he said pointing to her chest.

“You love them.”

“They’re okay.”

She rolled her eyes and shoved him away, “We’ll see about that, but right now you are cutting into my tanning time.”

The rest of the day past quickly, but it wasn’t any less entertaining. Playing football was not as easy as it should have been with a few too many beers in most of their systems. Christian, who was designated as both teams’ quarterback, got the biggest kick out of it. His passes weren’t the best, but not terrible enough to leave Adrian, Derrick, and Scott face planting everytime they tried to lay out for a catch.

As the sun dropped below the horizon, Derrick and Scott focused on remaining true to their word and attempted to empty the coolers as much as possible. Devin left them both to it, having his fill hours ago. Adrian had given up on keeping up with the linebackers when he found himself doubled over in the sand, losing his breakfast. Jason had disappeared with Kadie and he didn’t even want to think about what they were doing… on a public beach.

“Devin?”

He looked down at Rose who was lying across his legs, but she pointed over his shoulder. He turned his head to see a familiar face standing over him.

“You, too. It’s a bit weird seeing you all here. Don’t they have nice enough beaches around the lake that you wouldn’t have to drive hours to get here?”

“We figured we needed to get away for a day.”

“How do you two know each other?” Rose asked out of the blue.

Laura looked at Devin for a moment before answering, “Devin and I dated for a long time. It seems like so long ago now, though.”

“It was a long time ago,” Devin said.

“I guess,” she shrugged.

Their conversation was interrupted as Bobby sat down across from them a cooler, staring at Devin expectantly. The upperclassman raised an eyebrow unsure of what he wanted but when he started nodding towards Laura, he got the picture.

“Laura, that’s my friend, Bobby,” he said introducing him.

He tuned them out as Bobby instantly launched an attempt to flirt with her. For some reason, he didn’t want to sit next to Laura while someone flirted with her. They had history, a long and storied history. It was also then that reality seemed to sink in. Once upon a time, he had a relationship he valued. Even with Carla, she was what he looked for in a girlfriend.

Rose was great fun, but that’s all there was to her. He looked over at Christian who was deep in debate with Sue over some abstract theory in some subject or another. They complimented one another. Rose’s personality clashed with his. Sure in his two years in college he’d broken out of his shell, but he still didn’t like non-stop action. Sometimes, he just enjoyed sitting down and staring off into the distance, accompanied by only his thoughts.

No longer could he avoid the fact that professional football was right around the corner for him. From articles he’d read, general managers and owners were on their knees every night praying that he would declare for the draft after next season.

He had unfinished business in college, but it was something that was constantly hanging over his head. Also, hanging over his head was the blonde resting on his lap. God forbid, he makes the mistake of getting her pregnant. He didn’t want the relationship that his grandparents had. They seemed to blame each other for unfulfilled dreams. He would rather quit football now on his own terms then spend the next twenty years of his life unhappy.

He would have to refocus things in his life again soon, probably after the season. The time had passed when he could just be quiet Devin King, but he couldn’t be the opposite of that either. First, he’d have to make a stop before they headed back to New Orleans.

“This is where you grew up?” Rose asked as the SUV pulled to a stop outside Devin’s parents’ house. “I heard you were rich. I figured it would be much bigger.”

Devin shrugged, “It was home. I don’t think we are as rich as everyone tries to make us out to be, but we got by.”

He hopped out after reassuring Christian that he would be long but the senior told him to take as much time as he needed. As he made his way up the driveway, he noticed his grandfather’s car parked in the grass. He hadn’t called his parents to tell them that he was coming pick up all the mail that he had sent here over the last few months, and he knew they wouldn’t have called him even if he did inform them of his random visit.

Bending down next to the door, he ran his hand along the wall searching for a specific brick. He had a habit of losing his key when he was younger so he’d jimmied a brick loose to hide a spare key behind it. Feeling the divot in the mortar, he pulled the block free and grabbed the key. Taking a deep breath, he unlocked the door and heard his family talking in the living room.

All conversation stopped as soon as he came into view.

“Well, this is a pleasant surprise,” his mother chirped, but she remained seated. “What brings you to Houma in the middle of the semester?”

“We went to Grand Isle, and, uh, I decided to pick up my mail on the way back,” he said. He looked down at the small end table in front of him where the mail was stacked up as it had been done for years prior.

“How’s school?” his father asked.

“Same as it has always been. Still eligible.”

The man gave an exasperated sigh. He and his son had not spoken in months, but he knew that delving further into his education would only spark an argument. That didn’t mean that he wasn’t deeply concerned that his son wasn’t taking his studies serious enough.

“I heard people are thinking that you will be good enough to win a Heisman if you take over return duties next season,” the eldest King said.

“Coach Wesley and Coach Hall told me that I’d never return a kick. They want me fresh for defense and don’t want to risk me getting hurt on special teams,” he answered. “We have guys who can take over for Tyrone.”

“I see you still don’t have your priorities in order,” his father snapped.

Devin, IV, ran his hand across his face, “I don’t know what you are looking for from me. I don’t talk about my classes with anyone. I get good grades and I pass them. What more do you want me to say? I spend more time on the practice field or in the weight room than I do in the library. Of course, it’s going to be easier to talk about football.”

“I taught you well.”

“With all due respect, grandpa, you didn’t teach me s***. When I was listening to you about my football career, I wasn’t as good as I am now,” he continued, suddenly feeling like this was a terrible idea. “Why can’t we have normal f***ing conversations when I come home?”

“Watch your mouth, Devin,” his mother said angrily.

“I just came to get my mail,” Devin repeated with a sigh. He picked up the envelopes with his name on them and started for the door but both his father and grandfather called him back. “What?”

“I’m trying to open your eyes to what is best for you, son,” his father said, stressing the word son. “You can get in that car on your way back to New Orleans, get in a wreck, and never walk again. Then what is football going to do for you? I can tell you what Tulane is going to do for you. They are going to send your ass back to Houma with nothing.”

“Don’t listen to your father, boy. That only happens in fairytales. I’m going to let you slide on that s*** you just told me, but you need let me help you train during the offseason so you don’t get torched in your first season as a collegiate starting cornerback.”

“He needs to focus on his studies.”

“A degree doesn’t guarantee you a good job. You should know.”

“So says the man who has pissed his fortune down the drain!”

“That doesn’t matter. I’ve been living well for a long time. I don’t have to take care of my family anymore. You still do!”

“BOTH OF YOU SHUT THE F*** UP!” Devin shouted. He saw them both about to reprimand him, but he quieted them both with a wave of his hand. “You are both f***ing wrong. You’ve spent so much time fighting with each other that you don’t even know what I’m trying to do with my life. I’m tired of being the monkey in the middle of your f***ing arguments. You wondered why I never come home? This is f***ing why I never come home. I don’t have to worry about pointless f***ing arguments when I’m in New Orleans. No one bothers me with stupid s***. You know what? You can rest assured that I won’t be making too many more trips here then maybe you two can work out whatever issues you have with one another.”

He didn’t wait for either man to answer. They were shocked silent. He walked out of the house knowing that when the semester was over, he wouldn’t be coming back. He had the peace of his dorm room to relish in. Closing the door quietly, he felt a new sense of determination.

He might have the same name as the two bickering men inside his former dwelling, but he was not them. He was not them at all. He wouldn’t be pigeon holed by his name any longer. Now was the time to forge his own legacy.

have to admit im a little surprised the coaches didnt bench Caesar, but i guess who would bench a star athlete even if hes having a bad game? not a surprising aftermath reaction given how poorly he played. surprising that sophie didnt open the legs. pretty sure in past updates she was hot to trot, so caesar mustve been looking real bad. and laura is the first girlfriend that wouldnt put out, right? and then let caesar smash? well, anyways, rose i think is good for devin for now being the "fun girl". but he still has room to grow and will need a more stable and mature partner down the line.

Fiona Sanders sat at a table in Café Beignet in New Orleans’ famous Legends Park. It had been two years since she moved to Louisiana from Cincinnati and she could count on one hand how many times she’d ventured into the French Quarter. She would have never left Ohio if the Times-Picayune wasn’t willing to pay a twenty-three year old what they did.

It was an abnormally cold October afternoon for the Big Easy. The temperature had to be in the lower fifties. She watched people walk around the Quarter bundled in huge jackets, hugging themselves everytime a gust of wind whipped down Bourbon Street. The Ohioan in her silently laughed at the scene. This was light jacket weather.

Though, this seemed to be a strange trend over her two years in New Orleans.

In the later months of the college football season, the temperature would drop after every Tulane win. Ole Miss happened to be the Green Wave’s latest victim this past Saturday. Keeping with the pattern, thermometers gave a reading of a balmy thirty-nine degrees early Sunday morning. It was hard for a practical person like herself to believe in voodoo, but there might be some substance to myths if an undefeated season for Tulane caused snow to fall.

Admittedly, she was impressed with the performance of New Orleanians’ favorite college football team. It’s hard to write her usual venom-laced columns when the game begins with an interception returned for a touchdown by Tulane’s sophomore star. The rest of the team fed off that, and they rolled to a 38-0 win. Devin King might not believe it yet, but he was the soul and the heartbeat of the Tulane defense. A long-time fan of the game, she couldn’t remember a player who could swing the mood of a team in the way that he did.

She was still able to quench her need to take football players down a notch. Caesar Jenkins looked like a fish out of water again, and many of her colleagues were beginning to wonder if the hype had finally caught up with him. He was seen on the sideline arguing with his quarterback and the coaching staff. In a sadistic way, it was amusing to watch. She still believed that he should have been suspended for more than four games. He hit a girl, and she had no respect for any man who would even fathom raising his hand to a woman. If it was up to her, he would have never played college football again.

The scraping of a metal chair against the pavement brought her out of her thoughts. She glanced to her left just as Devin sunk into the chair.

“You’re late,” she said plainly. She saw him roll his eyes as he brushed the left behind sugar from the table before placing an elbow down to prop his chin up on his hand.

“Some people choose inopportune times to argue.”

“Oh no, don’t tell me there is trouble in paradise.”

He gave a laugh so short it sounded more like a cough and shook his head, “There is always trouble in paradise, Ms. Sanders.”

“That’s pretty cryptic for someone like you, Devin.”

He spared her a glance and shrugged. Most of what he’d said over the past week and a half could be called cryptic or enigmatic. Because of that, he and Rose had gotten into an argument when she asked him about his relationship with Laura for the millionth time and he replied “what happened, happened.”

Looking back, it wasn’t the best thing to say. Hindsight is always 20/20.

“Well, I believe congratulations are in order for you,” the woman said. “You’ve popped up on the Thorpe and Bednarik watchlists. A few even believe that you should be getting a few votes for the Heisman.”

“The Heisman? That’s an offensive award.”

“No, it’s to honor the most outstanding college football player in any given season.”

“How many Heisman winners have there been?”

“118.”

“Pretty impressive that you know that off-hand.”

“I told you that I’m good at my job.”

“How many of those one hundred and eighteen players,” he paused for effect. “Have been only defensive players?”

She rubbed her chin as she tried to recall all the Heisman winners. Some stood out more than others. Some more deserving than others, “One. Charles Woodson in 1997.”

“When I was younger and trying to decide what position to play, I would go on the internet and watch clips from all those old players. There are two things I remember from that. One, they didn’t make quality cameras until the 2010’s and two, Charles Woodson returned punts and played some receiver. Defensive players, we aren’t flashy enough for Heisman voters.”

“So says the kid who only catches interceptions when they should be out of his reach and usually returns them for touchdowns,” she laughed, “You have more touchdowns than a certain receiver on your team. If you were to ask me, I’d say you were flashy enough.”

“Well, I guess I’ll have to go around and charm all the voters so I can be the first defense-only player to win.”

“Are you implying that you’ve worked your charm on me?”

He shook his head and switched arms as the one he was leaning on was beginning to fall asleep, “I’m not implying anything, Ms. Sanders. I’m pretty sure that I came right out and said that one.”

“You should respect your elders, Devin.”

“You only have a few years on me unless you are one of those women who lie about their age.”

“Women only lie about their age when they are over thirty-five and they shave off too many years. I’d have to go around telling people I was seventeen or something and I’m not big on dating teenagers. It’s wrong on so many levels.”

“Just under the line,” Devin laughed referring to himself.

“I’m glad you are in a good mood no-“

His hand shot up to cut her off, “I’m in a decent mood, but if you start going all investigative reporter on me right now I may be tempted to leave. I believe you already have enough information on me to write your book. Though, I am curious to know why you have such a problem with my family.”

“You are right, Devin, and that’s only fair. To be honest with you, I don’t really know anymore,” she said looking down at the table for a moment before meeting his gaze again. “As you know I’m from Ohio, my mom had a friend who got thrown in jail because she was a little crazy and did some even crazier s***. I used to go with my mom to visit that friend and the only consistent in their conversations was your grandfather. Of course, I had my own problems with athletes. Easy to hate people who you always see doing wrong.”

“That would make your mom pretty old to know someone who knew Devin King, Jr. To know them well enough to visit them in jail, at least.”

“She had children late. Anyway, you were right back when you said I was just trying to dig up dirt. It was easy for the other big sports families. They’d all done something stupid. Not so much for yours. Your grandfather, after he retired from the NFL no one cared about the Kings anymore. Then you came along. I had just graduated when Terrebonne High started popping up all over the place and you were flying up the recruiting boards. No one could have convinced me that you weren’t as crooked as everyone else who had a famous name.”

“And what is your assessment after spending all this time talking to me?”

“Obviously, I was wrong, wrong and utterly shocked. That’s why I don’t know what my aim is anymore. You have six or seven other subjects who fit the mold of what I think of rich, famous athletes are, and then you have… you. It’s a bit hard to make you look like someone you’re not. Hell, compared to those other guys, you are Tim Tebow.”

“Who?”

“Tim Te- Don’t worry about. With all the scandals going around right now, the s*** in college football, the betting in the MLB and the NHL, drug use in the NBA, you are a breath of fresh air. The hard-working, quiet, consistent, clean cornerback. I can see why Tulane is trying to promote you as the face of the program.”

“Me?” he asked before starting to laugh. “I’m sure they’ll be some big name recruit on the other side of the ball next year that they can latch on to, not that I’m complaining. I just want to play. Someone else can do that other s***.”

“I guess that’s fair, but then who would I have to pick on when Tulane loses? It wouldn’t be fun trying to break in another freshman.”

“I wouldn’t want you to then people would think you had a thing for teenagers,” he chided. She wagged her finger at him as he laughed at his own joke. “On a serious note, I don’t really like my family much at the moment so we’re in the same boat on that subject. I should have worn a wire when I went to see them last Sunday that would have been talk show material.”

“That bad?”

He just shrugged and pushed the chair away from the table. She took as a sign that he didn’t want to broach the subject any further. He looked around the café before turning back towards her and smiling.

“So, I just realized that I didn’t come all the way to a café to not indulge in the fine cuisine here. I’m glad you decided to come to an actual café instead of a little coffee place or something. I hate that s***.”

She couldn’t help but laugh when he walked over to the counter and the girl immediately recognized who he was. The bottle blonde shamelessly batted her press on eyelashes at him while he stumbled through his order.

As for the reporter, she’d reached a new level of understanding with Devin King despite his reluctance to openly discuss his family.

“That’s not right.”

“What?”

“It’s, uh, not right.

“Really?”

“Well, yes and no. You didn’t take into account the change for each value, but somehow you ended up getting the right answer so you may have done something else wrong.”

Kaley looked down at the numbers in front of her and frowned. She knew what she was doing, but had made a careless mistake because her mind wasn’t on the matter at hand. Cameron had worn out his use as tutor weeks ago. She knew just as much if not more than he did. Yet, there she was sitting on his bed.

According to Alison, it was because she believed Cameron was safe. In her words, Cameron was attracted to Kaley but didn’t know how to approach a girl who didn’t wear floor length dresses and high collared shirts. A fairly smart, sorority girl who walked around in clothes to be considered comfortable by any female who wanted a sex life was intimidating.

That was a fair assessment. She would catch him stealing glances at her, but he would just look away with a look of embarrassment on his face. They hadn’t delved too far into their past relationships, each for their own reasons, but Cameron did mention that he didn’t have much to hide in that area from his formative years. Kaley translated that to mean he’d either never been with a girl or very few. Of course, there was the third option that he wasn’t into women at all. Not that there is anything wrong with that…

Deep down, she believed this was what she needed. A quiet guy who was content sitting down and focusing on something other than sex. It wasn’t that long ago she could sit on a guy’s bed and not end up in some compromising yet satisfying positions.

“Kaley?”

She looked and blinked a few times. She didn’t realize she was squeezing the pen in her hand so hard it’d snapped into two pieces. Luckily, she didn’t get ink all over his bed.

“You zoned out a bit there. Are you okay?” Cameron asked concerned.

“I’m fine. I was just thinking about some stuff and I guess I decided to take my frustrations out on the pen because it was in my hand.”

“A penny for your thoughts?”

“They aren’t worth that much.”

“How about a dime?”

She shrugged as she got up from the bed to toss the pen into a trash bin next to his desk. He was such a sweet guy, “It’s nothing important, just frustrating. Doing this s*** really isn’t help much. How about we go do something else?”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, go grab a bite to eat or something. Hang out like normal people. You aren’t ashamed to be seen with me, are you?” she teased.

“No, no. I agree. Just let me finish this up.”

She walked out of Cameron’s room and leaned against the wall next to the door. There was a bit of commotion coming from the room across the hall, but that wasn’t anything new. For the most part, Detillier Hall was one of the more peaceful on the campus except for that one damn room. She wondered what jackasses occupied that room.

The door cracked open and she saw a figure of a person, but it disappeared back into the darkness of the room. There was a hushed conversation going on, but she could make out that one of the two was female. Probably some floozy having a threesome with the two residents of the unit. She’d never seen them, but with the noise they made it was a plausible explanation.

She heard Cameron shuffling around in his room and hoped he would hurry up, because she was quickly growing tired of standing outside in the hall waiting for him. From the room, she heard a girly giggle and the door opened. Kaley’s eyes flew open in shock at the sight that exited the room.

Sophie was standing opposite of her with a terrible case of sex hair. The two friends stared at each other as both tried to figure out why the other was in the dorm. Sophie must have realized how she looked and began frantically trying to brush her hair down.

“Hey, Kaley,” she said sheepishly, “Weird running into you here.”

“That it is. You certainly look like you were having a good time. With the way you were giggling and the way you look, I don’t think I would have ever left that room. Got you a new man?”

“Something like that,” she mumbled and cast her eyes downward as if she could look Kaley in her eyes.

“Kaley? I have some bad news,” Cameron said stepping out of his room. She turned slightly to him so she could keep an eye on the room. For some reason, she wanted to see who it was that had Sophie behaving so weirdly around her. “I’m going to have to postpone that meal. A friend just told me we have a paper due next week.”

She had to bite her lip to stop from laughing at him, only Cameron would not do something because of an assignment due in a week, “That’s fine.”

“You know, Kaley. I, uh, really like hanging out with you,” he stammered. She raised an eyebrow slightly amused that he seemed so unsure. He leaned towards her. She knew what was coming next, but her attention was drawn across the hall when the room’s other occupant finally emerged.

There was no mistaking that floppy sandy brown hair at the top of that skyscraper of a man. He looked up and their eyes connected for the briefest of moments before he turned back towards the door to lock it.

She shook her head and looked back at Cameron, “No, it’s okay. I just saw someone I recognized. I like hanging out with you, too.”

This time it was her who leaned in for what could only be described as the most awkward kiss she ever had especially with her ex-boyfriend standing only five feet away from her with one of her best friends. When she pulled back, Caesar was sporting an amused smirk as if he could read her mind.

Cameron looked at him with a confused look. The two of them must not have had much contact despite living across the hall from one another. Caesar pointed to both of them and then gave Cameron a thumbs up before ushering Sophie away.

“Do you know him?” Cameron asked watching the pair walk away.

“Better than I wish I did,” she mumbled. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Noticing the change in her mood, Cameron gave her a curt nod before leaving her to it. She wasn’t a fan of walking, but the stairs seemed like a much better idea than heading for the elevator.

Hells Yeah. If you dont make that happen I might pout. For like a minute or 2. A 220 pound corner is huge. Thats like safety, borderline outside linebacker big. Patrick Peterson was like 203 and he looked huge compared to all the other CBs at the combine.

Erik walked out into the afternoon sun and sighed to himself. It had been a long season. There was hope that they would be able to bounce back after the bye week with a win to change their season around, but their game against Florida was over before it even started. The team wasn’t playing with any passion anymore, no fire. To make matters worse, they still had six weeks left in the season including games against Alabama and Tulane.

The seniors and draft worthy juniors seemed to have given up on the year. Nothing that happened in the offseason would affect them. The team had to turn to the sophomores for leadership, but as of late that was harder to find than evidence of big foot.

He wasn’t the problem. He’d given more pep talks in the last six weeks than he’d ever given in his life. Pep talks weren’t his style, after all. Despite only having one year of experience under his belt, the team did listen to what he had to say. They respected him, respected his work ethic, respected that he never hung his head even though there were more than a few times even he wanted to take off his helmet and send in the backups.

Those things weren’t hard for him. He had been fighting for what he believed he rightfully deserved since his childhood. Success was at the top of the list for him, and he had a huge problem with anyone who got in the way of him getting what he wanted—even if that person were a friend, a family member, or in this situation, a teammate.

Walking over to a bench where Oki Odawa and Taylor Wolf were playing a card game, he sat down with them and rested his head in his hands.

“Why the long face, Erik? You look like you lost your best friend,” Taylor said with a bit of a smirk as he won the current hand.

The Bahamian shook his head before scooping up the cards and dealing another hand, “I’m sure he is still upset that we are playing like s*** this season. Too bad, we aren’t going to turn it around until we have more than a few days to fix the problems.”

“If they gave me the power to cut players, I could fix the problems in a few days,” Erik mumbled, “Too much negativity. It’s bad enough the media and everyone else is telling us we suck, but when seventy percent of the team believes it, it’s a little hard to get past that.”

“McCollough would be first on my list if I could,” Oki said shaking his head as he thought about how painful it was to watch the team’s quarterback make a fool of himself on the field, “I know he is only a freshman, but no one should be that bad.”

“I’m still trying to figure out why he was even recruited. He split the starting job with some other kid in high school. The other guy goes to some Division 3 or NAIA school, but he’s starting for a BCS school? Just doesn’t add up to me. We couldn’t find a junior college quarterback to take over for a year or two?”

Erik sighed. He had actually taken out the time to learn Evan McCollough’s story. The left hander from Seattle was actually a good quarterback in his high school days, but his coach wanted to keep his son in the mix even though all he could do was run. Scouts had similar opinions of him as his teammates. No one wants a kid who can’t even win the starting job outright in high school, but LSU still offered him a scholarship and he gladly accepted.

This wouldn’t have been a problem if Lamar English wouldn’t have dropped out of school in the spring. The junior signal caller was supposed to replace Peter Young. Now, they were stuck with a green freshman who didn’t have much in the way of confidence. Erik wholly believed that Evan could one day become a good starting quarterback for the Tigers, but he was about two years ahead of schedule and it showed in his play.

“McCollough wouldn’t be so bad if he had a running back in the backfield who actually cared about what was going on,” Erik spat angrily. Only months ago, he was one of the few sticking up for Hasan Santiago, but that was a thing of the past.

“Santiago isn’t supposed to be the field general. McCollough is,” Oki said, “We’re not talking about the defense. Anyone can be a leader on defense, but on offense, only the quarterback can give the team a kick in their ass.”

“Well, I don’t see why a running back or receiver or even an offensive lineman can’t do that. Sounds like an excuse to me. Santiago is taking plays off in games and that’s part of the reason why we are losing. If the coaches don’t notice it soon, I might be tempted to break his legs. Then, he’d have a reason why he wasn’t on the field giving it his all.”

“Oh no, we have a violent Jenkins up here in Baton Rouge now, too,” Taylor laughed.

It had been two days since Kaley had seen Sophie walking out of Caesar’s room looking thoroughly f***ed, and now she was sitting across from her friend in the union. Alison just wouldn’t accept no for an answer when she said she was not hungry. It wasn’t that she was trying to avoid Sophie. She just didn’t want to run into “just had sex” Sophie again.

“Are you two not going to talk the entire time we are here?” Alison asked.

The girl looked from one friend to another and then back. Sophie’s eyes were trained on the edge of the table as if she was embarrassed to look up. Alison shrugged and continued to pick at the salad in front of her.

“Well, are you two not going to ever speak to each other again?”

“What?”

“Just a question, because I want to get out of the dorms and the only way I’m going to be able to do that is if both of you agree to come be my roommates. We’re all too broke to live off campus alone and I know you don’t want another roommate, Kaley. You might end up with a weird one.”

Sophie finally looked up, “I don’t exactly want to go get a job when I already have a place to live practically for free.”

“You could go be a stripper or prostitute,” Kaley said before she even realized the words were coming out of her mouth.

“And now that that’s on the table, we should discuss that as well,” Alison prodded, “I can’t live with two people who are liable to kill one another, then I would have to pay all of the rent myself.”

“There is nothing to talk about, Alison. I just accidentally said something that was on my mind.”

“Are you shocked about what happened? I’m not an oracle or anything like that, but I could have guaranteed she would have ended up in his bed. That being said, Sophie, you could have at least told her instead of springing it up on her.”

Sophie rolled her eyes, “I didn’t know she was going to be f***ing the nerd across the hall. Besides, I didn’t go running to him, he came stumbling to me drunk one night.”

“What about the redhead?” Kaley asked.

“What redhead?”

“The redhead he has been f***ing. You know the kinda cute one who works in the library, always reading books about philosophy or something else equally intellectual? Don’t tell me you thought you would be the only one?” Kaley asked mockingly.

Alison’s eyebrows furrowed, “I’m so confused. I mean, I don’t know much about Caesar, but he doesn’t seem like the type of guy who would be able to juggle multiple girls.”

“He was before I met him and before we started dating and obviously he is now that we aren’t. I’m going to be honest, it bothers me a bit but I’ll get over it. I didn’t expect him to be alone for the rest of his life just because he wasn’t with me and who he’s f***ing is none of my business. It was just a little shocking to run into you two like I did.”

“You could have just said that from the start,” Sophie mumbled.

“You’re right, I could have, but I didn’t want to,” Kaley shrugged.

“I think you were too nice about it. I would have asked her how I tasted, but then again I don’t get into relationships with guys so I don’t have to worry about my friends f***ing my exes,” Alison laughed.

Kaley rolled her eyes, “I wouldn’t exactly say that’s a good thing, honey. One of these days, some guy is going to get feelings for you and they are going to start stalking you. But that’s what we were just talking about, what about this genius plan you have for us to live off-campus?”

“Oh, yeah about that.”

Kaley stared at Alison as if she were listening, but she didn’t hear a word her friend was saying. She had no problem living with Alison and Sophie. They all had their weird quirks, and she’d somewhat learned to deal with them, but what she wouldn’t be able to live was seeing Caesar all the time.

She believed he was addicted to sex and if Sophie was giving it to him then they would have a fourth roommate. One who could make her angry and make her swoon at the same time, but one who she would rather not spend hours around anytime soon.

Daniel looked at the clock on the wall opposite his bed and sighed. He had to be in New Orleans early tomorrow morning, but for sleep was eluding him. He knew it was because he was angry. He felt disrespected for what Tulane was doing to him. He’d waited a long time for them to invite him for an official visit, but he didn’t want them to invite him this weekend. It could have been any other weekend, just not this one.

He was in the process of single handedly carrying Terrebonne back to the playoffs and hopefully another state championship in his final year as a high school quarterback, but Louisiana’s current top dog college football program didn’t seem like they wanted to take advantage of the opportunity that was in their own backyard.

No, they wanted him to take his visit on the same weekend that the illustrious Brady Rodgers was going to be in New Orleans. He had never met the Chicago native, but thanks to his recruiting somehow being directly tied into his, he hated him. Sure, he didn’t have the cannon arm that Rodgers had and no, he didn’t have the pinpoint accuracy that Rodgers had, but he was still one of the better quarterbacks in the country…

…and he had proven he could do it without Caesar Jenkins to throw to.

For the past week, he had been debating whether or not he was going to actually go. It would look bad if he didn’t. It made him feel bad that he was still not the top quarterback on their recruiting board. He believed he was a better fit for Eric Xavier’s offense and a better replacement for Darren Eguia. They were both scrambling quarterbacks. He didn’t understand how a guy who ran a 5.2 at the last camp he attended could fit into a spread option offense.

Unfortunately, he respected Coach Xavier and didn’t want to disappoint him by agreeing to the visit and then not showing up without so much as a phone call. On the other hand, he also didn’t want to waste his former coach’s time by going on an official visit to a school that he was likely not going to commit to.

He wasn’t tired of being second fiddle to Brady Rodgers and any other quarterback bone-headed scouts believed was better than him.

Damn, I didnt know that Patrick Peterson was that big. I guess 50 years is a long time to compare players against though. I like the whole situation with Daniel and his recruiting problems. Adds another dimension to the story.

Caesar should recover sometime soon, I have a feeling in a big game, maybe against his brother. I know the coaches don't want to play Devin on offense / as a returner but with his ability to ignite the team I think they're going to feel the pressure to do so soon.

Also going off what leeec said, all the different story lines for each character is what makes this story one of my favorites that I've read.

“It’s Saturday night again and you know what that means! It’s gametime and we have a big one for you tonight! The Tennessee Volunteers invade Tulane Stadium to take on the sixth ranked Green Wave! I’m Jesse Cicero, here with my partner Lonnie Raborn, bringing you the game live on the SEC Network. Lonnie, the Green Wave are 6-0 and making a lot of noise in the National Championship race, but a scrappy Volunteer squad is coming to New Orleans tonight, do you think the Green Wave’s seven game winning streak will be extended?”

“To be honest, I think it is a foregone conclusion that Tulane will be playing in the National Championship in January. This is just another stepping stone for them. Tennessee is coming off back-to-back losses following their bye week and they may press in an effort to pull off the upset. Clifton Thompson looked flustered when he faced this Green Wave defense last season. They didn’t lose much from that squad and you can expect Thompson to struggle again.”

“It will be interesting to see what he can do. Do you think today is the day that Caesar Jenkins finally gets off his snide and makes an impact for the Tulane offense?”

“Who? I’ve forgotten who that kid is. He’s been about as effective as a man trying to shovel sand with a sifter. I’ve written him off as a bust, so no I do not think he will make an impact for this offense. Besides, this Volunteer defense isn’t as bad against the pass as they were last year when Jenkins walked all over them. Tennessee won’t get blown out of the water, but they will still be able to compete and make this a fairly entertaining game.”

The most sought after quarterback in this year’s recruiting class was on hand for the game between the Green Wave and the Volunteers. In the past two months, Brady Rodgers had visited numerous universities who were trying to sway him to their program, but he had finally trimmed his list down to the final five schools he would be choosing from.

Of the five schools, Tulane was the last one to receive the Joliet Catholic signal caller for an official visit. A lot of recruiting analysts believed this was a sign that the Green Wave had no chance at getting his signature. He let them talk. He knew all five of the schools had the same chances at the moment. Although, he had to admit that Tulane Stadium may have been the loudest stadium he’d ever been in. These fans loved their team, and they let them know even before the game.

…

“We’re back in New Orleans for the opening kickoff. Tyrone Havas is back to receive the ball for the Green Wave. Sebastian Andrews signals to the referee is ready… and the ball is the air and the game is underway. Havas fields the ball in his own endzone and takes a knee. Tulane will begin their first drive from the twenty.”

“You know this is a strange thing to say, but Andrews ability to put the ball into the endzone may prove to more important to the Volunteers cause than people believe. Tyrone Havas is known for his speed in the open field and what better way to negate that than keeping him from getting out of the endzone.”

“Well folks, moving on from kickers being pegged to be player of the game. Tulane heads to the line of scrimmage for the first play from scrimmage. Darren Eguia is in the shotgun, three receivers out wide, with Havas to his left. Caesar Jenkins is split out to the right with Jason Williams in the slot next to him. The quarterback checks the sideline for any changes, and here’s the snap…”

Jason took a step back and turned towards the backfield. Darren faked the throw to him, causing both the cornerback covering him and the one covering Caesar to jump towards the freshman. Seeing he had open field in front of him, Caesar’s hand immediately shot up calling for the ball.

Darren stepped up and zipped the pass between the advancing safety and cornerback who was trying to get back. They both dove in an attempt to bat the ball down, but it passed in between them into the waiting hands of the receiver on the other side.

Tight-roping the sideline, Caesar gained another eight yards before finally losing his balance and falling out of bounds.

…

“Caesar Jenkins on the receiving end of a beautiful pass from Darren Eguia for an eighteen yard gain. First and ten from the Tulane thirty-eight yard line. The Green Wave are rushing back to the line of scrimmage. Brandon Hawkins shifts out wide. Eguia calls for the snap, and it’s right on target. Hands it off to Havas. He heads to the outside where the big tight end has cleared out a couple defenders for him. Jason Williams with a serviceable block on the edge, and Havas squeezes between them and into the open. Victor Nassir closes in on him. He spins, but the senior safety wraps up his legs and manages to get him to the ground. Gain of eleven for the runningback.”

…

“Eguia backs to pass. The pressure is on, and he has to get the ball away quickly. He finds Brandon Hawkins for a short three yard gain.”

…

“Second and seven from the Tennessee forty-eight, Tulane is chewing up yardage quickly on this drive. Desmond Smith replaces Tyrone Havas in the backfield, and he’s going to be on the end of a toss from the quarterback. The freshman slips between the linemen and is flipped down after getting four yards. Just like that, it’s third down but a manageable one.”

“This is going to be a big play for the Volunteers. If they make a mistake and don’t stop them here, the Green Wave will have their momentum back. Tulane has a lot of options, a quarterback run, give it to Havas, or throw it to Williams or Hawkins. It’ll be interesting to see how Tennessee chooses to defend this.”

“Third and three, now. Eguia in the shotgun with four out wide. Havas has checked back into the game. He’s in the backfield. Tennessee has their dime package in. Eguia sends Wendell Jones in motion to the opposite side of the field. The snap is high, but Eguia is able to pull it down. The Volunteers are only pressuring with their linemen. Eguia has time. Steps up and throws down the middle to Caesar Jenkins who makes the catch at the twenty-four! Jenkins dives forward for a few more yards just as the safeties close in on him. Darren Eguia is showing his accuracy so far today and Caesar Jenkins looks like he is back on track.”

“It was a dangerous pass from Eguia, but he managed to fit it through the window. That’s the second time he has forced a pass to Jenkins.”

“Both of them resulted in big plays.”

“They did, but eventually the Tennessee defense is going to key on that.”

…

“First down again for Tulane from the Tennessee nineteen. Pistol formation for the Green Wave. This has become their twenty and in formation this season. Two wide, one tight end, and two backs. Eguia gets the snap, pitches it to Havas, the running back makes one move and he easily finds himself in the endzone. The Volunteers just fell asleep on that one.”

“Their defense didn’t get set quickly enough and they weren’t in position to make a play on anyone. It was a well-timed call by the Green Wave. They are known for options and short passes here deep in opponent’s territory, always nice to throw a curveball at them that leads to a touchdown.”

…

“After a return of thirty-one yards, the Tennessee offense takes the field led by Clifton Thompson. On the other side of the ball is arguably the best cornerback tandem in the entire country in All-Americans senior Christian Pincus and sophomore Devin King, the latter is an early favorite to win the Thorpe this year.”

“A lot of people want to talk about how good Tulane’s offense is, but that defense is talented and experienced at every position. The few sophomores they have starting were also started as freshmen so it’s not like they are throwing green players into the fire.”

“Let’s see how they do. The Volunteers are in their base set, Thompson under center with two backs behind him and two receivers out wide. The ball is snapped and it off to Jeremy Williams who bursts through the middle for a three yard gain.”

“Smart play from the Tennessee coaching staff, too many teams want to test that secondary and pay the price for it. We saw what happens when you do that last week when Ole Miss faced the Green Wave.”

…

“Thompson drops back to pass on second down. Gets it out of his hands quickly to Julius Rucker and the senior is taken down by Curt Perez before he can add anything on. Four yard gain on the play.”

…

“Carlton Westbrooke in as the third down back for the Volunteers. He usually gets the ball on short yardage plays like this one and… sure enough, Thompson hands him the ball. Westbrooke crashes into the pile in the middle of the field and drives them forward, barely getting the first down but Tennessee is working their way down the field.”

…

“Jeremy Williams on the run again on first down, he picks up four before being brought down by Derrick Neal.”

…

“Second and six from their own forty-five yard line. Tennessee is still working from the I-Formation. Thompson drops back to pass, oh wait, he hands it off to Williams and the back dives forward for a short gain of two. A little trickery there.”

…

“Passing situation, third and four. The Volunteers bring out another receiver and Clifton Thompson is back in the shotgun. Thompson sends a man in motion, gets the ball from center, and again is quick on the trigger throwing it to Michael Nolan. He gets past the first down marker, but Christian Pincus brings him down after a five yard gain.”

“Tulane hasn’t sent any blitzes yet and the Volunteers are taking advantage of it. Look for them to come with some pressure soon.”

“Tennessee is quick back to the line and it’s another first down run from Jeremy Williams, but this one only nets them two yards. Maybe they are getting too predictable.”

…

“Second and eight from the Green Wave forty-seven yard line as the first quarter continues to wind down. Three receivers on the field again for Tennessee and Devin King has swapped places with Curt Perez, now at the nickel corner position.”

“He usually blitzes from there.”

“The snap and as expected King is coming on the blitz…”

Devin flew by the tackle and right into the backfield, but Thompson saw him coming and spun around to try and buy himself some more time. Devin continued to pursue the quarterback who seemed determined to throw the ball to a receiver.

Lunging at him, Devin tried to wrap his legs up but he stepped out of his grasp. Fortunately, Geoff had broken through the offensive line and was there to bring him down for the sack.

…

“Boneheaded play by Thompson, but a great play from the Tulane defense to come with the sack for a six yard loss. Now, they are faced with a long third down.”

…

Daniel applauded the great play from the Tulane defense from his spot on the sideline with the other recruits who were visiting the campus today. He and Brady Rodgers were the only two quarterbacks, but they were also hosting a pair of linebackers and a running back. He hadn’t taken the time to learn their names, though, because he had already decided that Tulane would not be the school for him.

He could see the excited look on Rodgers’ face everytime the crowd erupted after a play. For example, moments ago when Christian Pincus batted down a pass to force the Volunteers to punt. He could lie to the media and say he didn’t have a favorite yet, but as a fellow quarterback going through the recruiting process, he knew how much a lively crowd factored into the equation.

There was still a part of him that hoped he would be able to don the olive and white jerseys of the Green Wave. They were clear favorites for him, but he didn’t want to be a backup. Of course, Tulane had Chance Young who could take over the reins at quarterback next season, but he only had one year of eligibility remaining and Daniel was willing to wager that he could win the starting job over the junior who didn’t see his first start until this season.

Brady Rodgers was the only quarterback standing between him and starting for Tulane next season.

…

“Another incomplete pass by Darren Eguia and the Green Wave are going to be forced to give the ball back to Tennessee.”

“It was a poorly run route by Caesar Jenkins that time. Eguia expected him to break sooner than he did and it almost resulted in an interception. That drive had some promise, but again the inconsistency from Tulane’s top receiver has cost them.”

…

“Tennessee gets too predictable in Tulane’s half of the field and again, they are going to be punting it away. What happened on the tail end of that drive, Lonnie?”

“They lost their rhythm. The Green Wave tightened up once the Volunteers crossed midfield and made it hard for them to keep going to the nickel and dime strategy that they used to get down there. They are going to have to take some shots down the field if they want the Tulane secondary to back away.”

“The punt and return will take us into the second quarter. Tulane is up by seven over Tennessee.”

…

“Another long Tulane drive breaks down, but they are in field goal position this time. Max Longwell will trot out onto the field for the attempt from thirty-three yards out. Longwell lines up, takes his run, and easily knocks it through the uprights to extend the Green Wave lead to ten points.”

“I wouldn’t call that drive a complete failure for the home team. They got Jason Williams involved in the game and Caesar Jenkins managed to catch a drive saving pass. I’ll be the first one to say that I’m shocked that he’s caught three passes for fifty-one yards in the first half.”

“He had to get it going eventually.”

…

“Once again, Tennessee gets past the fifty only to get bogged down behind the forty. They’ll have to punt it away again.”

“At least, they are winning the field position game. Tulane has started most of their drives inside their own twenty. The only problem is that they aren’t putting any points on the board for themselves.”

“The Green Wave defense is bending a lot, but they know when not to break.”

…

“First and ten for the Green Wave on their own fifteen yard line after a booming punt. It’s about midway through the second quarter with Tulane up ten-nothing. Eguia is in the shotgun alone. Jenkins, Williams, Havas, Jones, and Victor Armstrong all split out wide. Jenkins and Williams both to the wide side of the field.”

“It looks like they are going with a designed quarterback run here deep in their own territory.”

“Tyrone Havas shifts back into the backfield. Darren Eguia gets the snap. He’s dropping back to pass the ball. The Tennessee defense is struggling to keep up with the flood of Green Wave receivers sprinting down field. Jenkins cuts towards the middle and the safety follows. Eguia brings the ball back and heaves a beautiful pass downfield. Jason Williams is by his man! All he has to do is reel this in and he’ll be in the open! He makes the catch! The safety is too far away to make a play on him and he’s going to easily break away for the touchdown! What a play by the Green Wave!”

“Offensive coordinator Eric Xavier deserves all the credit for that play. He forced Phillip Rolando to pick one of the two best receivers on this Tulane team and he chose to cover the deep post route instead of the fly pattern. Eguia read it perfectly and dropped it into the hands of the freshman for the eighty-five yard touchdown. That’s what opens up for the Green Wave when they have Caesar Jenkins making plays.”

“Is it safe to say this game is over now that Tulane is up three scores and the Tulane defense is playing extremely well?”

“I think so.”

…

Brady Rodgers was extremely impressed with the previous touchdown. Those were the type of plays that made him want to be a quarterback when he was younger. If he were going to be honest with himself, Tulane had a stable of receivers like no other team in the nation. Caesar Jenkins, though showing himself to be inconsistent this season, was the top recruit two years ago. Jason Williams was also one of the top recruits and the top receiver the previous year. Victor Armstrong and Raphael Jefferson were serviceable backups who could start at most programs in the country.

The team was set up for a possible dynasty, in his opinion. Young, experienced players at key position and a young coaching staff that seemed to know what they were doing. He’d heard a million times how he wasn’t the right fit for their high octane spread option offense, but Darren Eguia wasn’t the right quarterback for them four years ago when they were a more balanced team. They knew their best chance to win was to use Eguia’s speed, and the coaching staff will know their best chance to win with him will be to use his arm.

However, he was getting ahead of himself.

He wanted to give himself enough time to properly think over each of the five schools he was still considering. They all had their pros and cons, but Tulane had moved up into the top three.

“Well, that’s going to do it for the game. Tulane jumped out to a huge seventeen point lead at halftime and were able to coast through the second adding another touchdown in the third quarter. Tennessee scored in the fourth with a Clifton Thompson scamper into the endzone, but it was too little and much too late. What did you take from this game, Lonnie?”

“Caesar Jenkins disappeared in the second half again and it showed in the way the Green Wave looked so lethargic coming out of the locker rooms, but the Green Wave got an amazing game for their freshman receiver. Jason Williams caught four passes for one hundred and seventy yards and a touchdown on that big eighty-five yard play from Darren Eguia. The defense was led once again by Devin King and Christian Pincus who came up with big play after big play, but I’m most impressed by sophomore defensive end Clint Bingham who came up with two big sacks in the third quarter when the Volunteers were threatening to cut the lead to ten.”

“Tulane extends their winning streak to eight dating back to last season’s bowl win, undefeated with seven wins this year. Looking forward, the Green Wave have South Alabama at home, Boise State followed by Alabama on the road, Mississippi State back in New Orleans before finishing off their season with the annual game between them and their rivals from Baton Rouge, LSU. It may not look like the toughest schedule, but this same Tulane team lost an easy one to Mississippi State last season.”

“I don’t think we will see a repeat of last season’s blunder against the Bulldogs. South Alabama, Mississippi State, LSU, and even Alabama will all be relatively easy wins for the Green Wave. My one concern is that trip up to Boise in two weeks. They struggled last season when they played Syracuse in New York during the late months of the season, and Idaho’s climate is a bit chillier in November than it is in Syracuse.”

“Boise State has enjoyed a long and storied history on the blue turf winning over eighty percent of their games at home. LSU won tonight as well, are you still convinced that they will not be a match for this vaunted Tulane team?”

“This might be the last game they win all season. I don’t know what’s going on with them, but they are playing terribly. If it wasn’t for Erik Jenkins getting two interceptions and returning one of them for a touchdown, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation right now. In a few weeks, they’ll be out of the bowl picture with nothing to play for and we will see the worst beating Tulane has handed LSU since the early years of that rivalry.”

while im sure Eric would appreciate Daniel coming to LSU and fixing their QB problem, i dont see it happening. daniel will probably get away from louisiana. that said, good to see caesar shaking the rust off. hey, it took cj2k nearly the entire season to even get to an average level of play. id say that south alabama is when he returns to form, but tulane has so many options now, who knows? i see tulane overlooking the rest of their schedule, getting into some close games that make them vulnerable to the tigers in the final week.

It was the perfect October Wednesday afternoon. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, the temperature was just right, and Caesar’s last class of the day had been canceled. He’d thought about heading to weight room to get some extra time in, but he deemed it unnecessary after remembering that he was able to have a relatively decent game in the last game. It wasn’t up to his standards, but it was good enough in relation to the terrible season he was having.

Unfortunately, he had an itch that he needed scratched. Sophie seemed to be avoiding him for the past few days, and he was still in the process of apologizing to Hayden. He knew Sophie was worried about running into Kaley again. As for Hayden, she had her friend in her ear telling her not to accept his apology. Tyrone needed to control his woman. Both girls were proving to be more trouble than they were worth.

Of course, this was an easy problem to remedy. He needed to find a few more girls who would be open to a sex only relationship. It was a fool-proof system during his high school days, but he didn’t think it would be so easy on a college campus. It was too easy to know where he was. That was a problem which was also easy to remedy. He just had to be upfront about his intentions.

As he walked around the campus, he quickly realized that today wasn’t going to be the day to find a quick lay. It was a tad on the cold side. He should have come to this conclusion a few months ago when it was eighty degrees every day and every girl was prancing around in running shorts and tight tee shirts. With the winter approaching, they’ll be hiding from the weather and complaining that their tan will fade by the time summer rolls around.

He found an empty bench under a tree and decided to take advantage of the nice weather. Using his bag as a pillow, he lounged back on the bench for a well-deserved nap. Sleep hadn’t been easy to come by lately, after all.

He had just begun to drift off when he heard a hushed conversation nearby. Opening an eye, he looked around for the source but couldn’t see anything. He decided he was better off minding his own business and tried to doze off. The sandman was probably seconds away from coming to bring him to the Land of Nod when he felt someone shaking him.

With an exaggerated groan, he opened his eyes and looked up at the culprit. Before him stood a girl who couldn’t have been much older than him. She was somewhat attractive, though he wouldn’t call her his type. Her dark hair was cut much too short, and she looked a little beat up. The last observation stemming from the sling her left arm was in, and the way she favored her right leg. She was probably fresh off crutches or too proud to be seen with them.

She didn’t look like a student and was definitely not from the area. It was almost fifty degrees and her arms were bare as if she was used to temperatures much colder. Finally, he met her gaze and for some reason immediately wanted to look away. She had the eyes of a person who had seen a lot.

“Are you Caesar Jenkins?” she asked. Her voice was raspy, weathered.

“I am,” he answered curtly.

“I knew your friend, Ron DeRossi,” she said pausing to take a deep, pained breath. “He told me when I got a chance I should come meet you so here I am.”

He sat up and moved over, offering a seat to the girl, “Well, I don’t know why Ron would be telling anyone to come visit me, but I’m sure it’s for a good reason.”

She nodded and sat down, stretching her leg gingerly. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, and bit her lip as if she was deep in thought, “This campus is a lot bigger than I thought it would be. You’re a hard man to find. I was under the impression that you were the s*** around here. Thank God, I found you sitting on a bench, I don’t think I could have walked or stood much longer,” she said idly.

“I noticed you favoring your leg. Are you going to tell me your name and how you know Ron?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’d forgotten about that to be honest, just wanted to get off my feet. My name is Julie Pitt,” she said, reaching into her shirt and pulling out a pair of dog tags. “Private First Class Julie Pitt. I served with Ron in Korea. The Fighting Fifth.”

“This might sound bad, but they let women fight?”

She laughed and shook her head, “They’ve been letting win fight since the late ‘20s. You should really pay attention in history class.”

“Fair enough. I have another question, though. How can I be sure you really did serve with Ron? I mean, he’s not home from what I understand and you are sitting here next to me. As you can tell, my knowledge of the military is limited, but I know they don’t send units or whatever back in pieces. For all I know, you could be some crazy woman attempting to get some money out of me or Ron’s parents.”

“I’m not getting where you are coming from. Why would I waste my time thinking up this elaborate story just to get money out of you? I mean, I know you are supposed to be one of the richest kids in the country, but wouldn’t it just be easier to f*** you?” she asked, a bit of anger seeping into her voice.

Caesar looked the woman over and sighed. He grabbed his bag and started to stand up, “Well, it probably would, but I’m not all that attracted to you so you’re going to fail there. It was nice talking to you whoever you are.”

“I’m pregnant!” she shouted.

“What?” he asked stopping in his tracks. “Pregnant for who?”

“Pregnant for Ron, obviously.”

“You have to be kidding me,” he snapped and sat back down. “You have ten minutes to prove to me you really are who you say you are.”

“How do you want me to do that?”

“I don’t know.”

“He called you a month ago.”

“Anyone could know that.”

“And he told you about what he did when we went through Dongducheon.”

Caesar furrowed his eyebrows before letting out a snort-like laugh, “You’re going to have to do better than that. I can say I went them some random place that you’ve never heard of with anyone.”

“I was getting to that. So, we were in Dongducheon. The KPA was retreating, but there were still pockets of resistance holed up in the city…”

The 3rd Battalion 5th Marines trudged through the snowy streets of Dongducheon. Most of their soldiers were green, fresh from the states, but that was the case with most of the American fighting force. The higher ups were cursing the decision to pull Americans from South Korea thirty years ago. The surprise attack from the North had the same effects as it did almost one hundred years ago. At least, the Koreans were able to stop the Korean People’s Army before it overran Seoul.

Ron DeRossi was among the soldiers in Dongducheon, assigned to a platoon going from building to building clearing out any pockets of resistance. It was ugly work. Hand to hand combat was likely as the North Koreans wouldn’t be looking to become American prisoners.

“One week and we are already in the suck,” a soldier said from behind him. His name was Keyon Williams, a private from Los Angeles. He had as much experienced with snow as Ron did, and he had no problem voicing his displeasure with the Korean Peninsula’s white winter.

“Shut the f*** up, private!” the squad’s sergeant shouted from the front of their formation. Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Ross was a lifer. He’d been in the Marines almost as long as most of the soldiers currently under his command had been alive. “DeRossi, take motor mouth, Pitt, and Santos and clear out that there building. The rest of you on me!”

“Yes, sir,” Ron said obediently as he waited for the three soldiers to form a semi-circle around him. He nodded to each of them and they ran over to the wall near the door of the building of question, their training immediately kicking in.

Giovanni Santos was the closest to the door, the breach man. Ron was behind him, Keyon behind him, and Julie Pitt watching their ass. Even after so many years, there were a lot of soldiers who didn’t trust women enough to keep them from getting shot, but Private Pitt was as much a leatherneck as anyone else.

“Kick it,” Ron said to Giovanni.

“Knock knock, motherf***ers,” the soldier said to himself. He stepped in front of the door, and used the shotgun in his hands to blow the doorknob out then he kicked the door open and ran into the building followed by the rest of the fire team.

Ron was half expecting to run into a hail of bullets, but the first room was empty. They were in a home, but you can tell it hadn’t been properly lived in since the North Koreans crossed the border.

“Kitchen’s clear,” Keyon called as he returned to the main room.

“I have point,” Ron said as he walked towards the stairs, his rifle at the ready. The other three followed him, hoping the rest of the house was as empty as the first floor.

Ron slowly climbed the steps. He had an eerie feeling in the pit of stomach, like he was being watched. He got to the first landing and saw two doors at the end of the hall and another set of stairs leading to the top level of the building.

He pointed to Julie and Giovanni and told them to stay put. He didn’t want anyone coming down the stairs and having the drop on them. Signaling to Keyon, the two made their way down the hall making sure to keep their backs to the walls. They stopped just outside the doors and noticed they were open.

Using hand signals, Ron asked if Keyon could see into the room behind him. Unfortunately, he couldn’t and Ron couldn’t see into the opposite room. Ron bent down and picked up a shard of glass that had been blown out of a nearby mirror. Using it, he stretched his arm into the room but it was too dark to make out anything more than the outline of whatever was in the room.

He handed the glass to Keyon who did the same and shook his head. The room was empty. Just as he was about to take another look into the room, he heard shuffling. Snapping into action, he flicked on the flashlight under his rifle and stepped away from the wall.

“There’s someone in there,” he whispered to Keyon, “Make sure I don’t get shot.”

Ron stepped into the room and turned to his right just as a KPA soldier was crawling from under a desk in the room. Their eyes met and Ron could see the shock in the man’s eyes before anger replaced it.

“PUT YOUR HANDS UP! DON’T MOVE!” he shouted in Korean. It was the only two phrases he’d learned so far. The man shouted back at him in his native tongue, but Ron didn’t understand him and he didn’t like that the man was not following his orders. Keyon ran into the room and trained his rifle on the man as well.

Ron repeated the order, but the man just laughed and called him a stupid American. It was probably the only English he knew.

The man said something else in Korean before reaching behind his back. Everything seemed to slow down as the soldier’s arm lifted just enough that Ron could see the matte metal of a pistol in his hand. On instinct, Ron fired his rifle hitting the soldier three times in his chest and neck.

As he slumped to the ground, Ron quickly walked over to his limp body and kicked the pistol away. He lifted the arm with his foot and stared at the insignias on his arm. He was just a private, probably as young as Ron was, and he had just taken another man’s life.

He picked up the gun and held it out to Keyon who was staring at the man wide-eyed, “Take this, we have to go up to the next floor.”

The Californian nodded, but stood rooted to the floor. His eyes slowly scanned the room before he doubled over and threw up. Ron could understand how he was feeling, he felt the same way, but he knew that if he didn’t shoot then one of them would have been killed.

“Come on, man,” Ron said helping Keyon stand up straight and slapping the pistol against his chest. He left the room and heard the faint sound of crying. He turned to Julie and Giovanni, eyebrow raised, “Do you hear that?”

“It sounds like a kid,” Giovanni said.

Ron ran up the stairs. It was a reckless action, but if there were any more KPA soldiers in the building, they would have been waiting anyway. There was only one room on the top floor. He walked into it and saw the huddled form of a little girl in the corner.

He lowered his rifle a bit, but kept the flashlight on as he made his way towards her, “Hey,” he said quietly, not wanting to frighten her any more than she already was.

The little Korean girl looked up at him and scooted back against the wall.

“It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you,” he reassured even though he knew she couldn’t understand them. He slung the rifle over his shoulder and crouched down in front of her, “I’m an American. See?” he turned his arm to her and pointed at the flag on his uniform.

A tiny hand reached up and ran its finger across the flag, “You, United States?” the girl asked in broken English.

Ron smiled, “Yes, I’m United States. I’m going to take you out of here, okay?” Ron held his hand out and the girl took it. Gingerly, he lifted her up and placed her on his hip making a quick check that she wasn’t bleeding or anything.

“RON! WE GOT TROUBLE!” Giovanni shouted up the stairs. Ron made his way down the stairs ignoring the strange looks the other three was giving him.

“You were saying?”

“We have to get the f*** out of here, now! The battalion is falling back to the FOB, f***ing gooks everywhere!” he said. Ron was secretly glad the girl had very little knowledge of English and hoped that spiel wouldn’t be what she learned first.

“Let’s go then,” Ron said, swinging the rifle back around to his free hand. He had no intentions of putting the little girl down especially after he heard the tell-tale crackle of gun fire.

The four ran out of the building just as the other soldiers of the battalion were making their way back down the street. Keyon and Giovanni yelled for Ron to put the girl down so he could run faster, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Not with the sound of artillery shells rocking the buildings around them. The KPA was close, he could tell.

Ron ducked between soldiers, using every skill he had learned during his football days. He knew s*** was bad when some of them stopped and began firing back. He looked back over his shoulder, but Julie waved him on.

“Keep going!” she shouted over the din of gunfire

The girl’s little fingers were digging into his neck as explosions ripped through the city once more. Bullets were tearing into the nearby walls sending concrete flying through the air.

“FAST MOVERS!”

Not knowing whether the planes were friendly or not, Ron slid into a ditch and used his body as a shield for the little girl. Moments later, he heard them pass overhead and drop their payload. Definitely American bombers. He glanced up to see the retreat had halted at a bridge close to where he was. Reinforcements had come just in time.

Julie walked over to the ditch and shoved a hand out towards him. He took it and pulled himself out of the ditch while trying to shush the hysterical child.

“Well, ain’t you just a regular hero, DeRossi,” the sergeant said when he saw Ron standing with the little girl. “For a minute, I thought you were just running for the hell of it.”

“Got to protect the little ones, gunny,” he said.

“I should rip your face off, but I understand,” Ross admitted with a stern nod. “Find a corpsman and get him to bring her to the rear. We have to go push them commies back.”

“Aye.”

“Wow,” was all Caesar could say after hearing the full story behind what Ron told him a month ago. He couldn’t imagine his friend taking another man’s life. He was still under the assumption that this war was more a peace keeping mission. Needless to say, he suddenly didn’t think that anymore.

“That little girl didn’t want to let him go when he finally found a corpsman. She went kicking and screaming eventually. Poor thing ended up in an orphanage,” she said. “Is that enough proof for you?”

He nodded dumbly, “It is.”

“He talked about you a lot. Ron, I mean. When we got a little more acclimated to things and the gooks weren’t trying to sneak up on us for some surprise attack in the middle of the night,” she continued. “I thought he was just bulls***ing. I met my fair share of former football players in my life, and they would always talk about their ex-teammates like they were family. I never understood it, but I guess I can see it with you two.”

Caesar couldn’t help, but let a little grin slip. A lot of people thought football players went overbroad with their bond, that they would only be close friends as long as they were winning, but his and Ron’s friendship easily transcended that. They were so similar to one another. Both from wealthy families, both only children, both searching for something concrete to latch onto in life. Football wasn’t the base of their friendship. Football was just the vehicle for it.

They weren’t just work-out buddies. They weren’t just teammates. They didn’t just happen to f*** the same girls. They were there for one another when no one else was. When their parents were gone and they were bored, they threw parties, but always made sure the other one was there to enjoy the festivities of the night.

Ron was more of a brother to him than Erik was, despite the blood relation with the latter.

“I could imagine the stories he told you,” Caesar laughed.

“Well, the first time he mentioned home at all, we were just across the 38th…”

“Not going to eat, quarterback?” Keyon asked Ron.

The battalion was awaiting further orders just north of the 38th parallel so the soldiers had a bit of time to get some rest before they continued their advance. It had been two months since the Fighting Fifth pushed through Gyeonggi Province. Fighting had been fierce as the Korean People’s Army tried to stem the flow of American soldiers surging towards the former demilitarized zone.

There were rumors that mercenaries from other enemies of the United States had come to North Korea to fight the hated Americans. It was believed that it was mostly Communist sympathizers from China. China had long ago abandoned their Communist ways, but like any former government there will always be those who still support the old ways.

In those two months, Ron had risen from the rank of private to lance corporal. The three soldiers he had conducted the raid in Dongducheon with were now a fireteam under his command. He knew he could trust them and Sergeant Ross knew he could trust Ron to keep them focused and make sure they complete their mission with the efficiency expected of Marines.

“I’m not really hungry,” Ron said as he poked the fire between the four of them. The snow hadn’t let up since they crossed the border, but spring was coming soon and Ron couldn’t wait. He was a Southerner through and through, he didn’t know how to deal with the white stuff.

“It might be good to get something in your system, sir,” Santos offered. He knew how much Ron didn’t like being referred to as “sir.” They had all put in two months in Korea so far, he felt they were equals, and only required them to use that term in front of high ranking officers. “Unless you plan on puking it up when we get into the s*** like Williams does.”

“That was one time!” Keyon defended.

“You did a few days ago when we came across that highway that got bombed,” Julie pointed out as she picked at the MRE in her hand.

“I’m starting to think you are the WM in our fireteam,” Giovanni laughed.

Ron shook his head and leaned against a log behind him. He pulled his heavy coat closer around his body.

“You’ve been really quiet since we stopped. What’s on your mind, DeRossi?”

He looked up at Keyon who was staring at him expectantly. He shrugged, “Home.”

“What were you like back in Texas? I bet you weren’t this quiet,” Julie added.

“Not Texas, Louisiana. I’m from Louisiana. I just went to college in Texas,” he corrected. “I thought I was the s*** back then especially when I was around my friends. You put a bunch of rich kids together and dumb s*** is bound to happen, but we did have some good times.”

“You are an only child?”

“Yeah, my parents didn’t like the idea of having to go through more than one pregnancy so they called it quits after me. I treated my friend Caesar like a little brother, though. I met him back in high school. We played football together. I was the quarterback and he was the receiver so it was pretty natural for us to be friends, you know? Sometimes, well most of the time, he was too stupid to see the good things right in front of him so I tried to give him what I thought would be brotherly advice. He was pretty angry when I told him I was enlisting. I just hope he didn’t f*** up what he had with that girlfriend of his, but knowing him he will eventually. Kid needs her.”

“Alright, marines!” Sergeant Ross’ voice boomed through the relatively quiet night. “UAVs have spotted a regiment of KPA soldiers bunkering down about 150 klicks north of here. They aren’t going to give us their capital easily, ladies, but they are going to give it to us! Load up, we’re Oscar mike!”

Keyon and Giovanni groaned before shoveling as much food as they could into their mouths, both making comments how even people in Ethiopia wouldn’t eat MREs on a daily basis. Ron kicked some snow onto the fire to put it out and snatched up his M16, brushing the powder from the rifle.

The four fell into formation with the rest of the battalion as they made their way north. A few days ago, the higher ups reminded them that they would be facing stiffer resistance now, they were in enemy territory and the North Koreans wouldn’t give it up as easily as they gave up the little land they gained in the south.

If they were getting into defensive positions so close, you could be sure that they had more fortifications behind them and that would likely lead to hand-to-hand fighting as they worked through the trenches. Ron hadn’t had to use his martial arts training yet and he hoped he wouldn’t have to. He wasn’t going to say it out loud, but he didn’t think he could take a Korean in fisticuffs. That’s why he carried a gun and a knife.

“You seem to care about your friend a lot,” Julie said from behind him, breaking him away from his thoughts.

“Like I said, he’s the little brother I never had. You have any siblings, Pitt?”

She nodded even though he couldn’t see her, “Yeah, I have a little brother and an older sister. They were both pretty pissed that I decided to join the Marines. My sister is still living in ancient times, though. She doesn’t think women should be in combat. It’s a man’s job she says.”

“Caesar was pretty mad about me joining, too, though I can’t say that I disagree with his tactics on how we can quickly end this war.”

“You should tell him to bring that to the higher ups then,” she laughed. “They might take it into account and we can be on our ways home in a few weeks.”

A smirk played at Ron’s lips and he shook his head, “I’ll take it into advisement when he go back to the rear for some R&R.”

“Don’t worry, he didn’t make you sound like a little bitch or anything like that,” Julie laughed patting Caesar on the shoulder. “Except when he told me about how he met you, crying in the hallway at school because your first love broke your heart.”

“Hey!” he shouted offended. “I was fourteen.”

“I know you were. He told me all of this, but he also told me about you calling him last year with the same s***. You just aren’t the ladies’ man, are you?”

Caesar rolled his eyes. Ron obviously didn’t tell this girl everything about him, “Are you sure he didn’t tell you about me just to make you all mushy so he could get into your pants? I mean, that would be a classic Ron move.”

“A classic Ron move? I can assure you that he didn’t tell me that to ‘get into my pants.’ I had no intentions of living up to the walking mattress or barracks queen tags. There were plenty of them in the rear if anyone were looking for one.”

“Well, you say that but I distinctly remember you telling me that you were carrying Ron’s kid around. Must not be that far along, because you don’t look like you have a bun in the oven.”

“That just happened. It wasn’t planned.”

“On the contrary, Miss Pitt, I don’t think anyone does anything in the spur of the moment. They always have the inkling in the back of their mind that they are going to do that thing. It might have taken you months to do it, but you decided long before that you were going to have sex with Ron DeRossi. It just happened when you were overseas instead of when you were home where it would have been a bit more socially acceptable.

“You are too smart for your own good, Jenkins,” she said shaking her head. “Thinking too much into things, it makes people look stupid. I’m sure when you saw me, you thought about hitting on me, but when I told you who I was you changed your mind. Wouldn’t that go against the bulls*** that just spilled out of your mouth?”

Caesar laughed, “I see the military is starting to get a lot of bright young people to join their ranks. So, you were lounging around one day and decided what the hell, let’s f***? I know Ron can be a little quick on the trigger, but I don’t think he would be in a situation like a war. Not that you are an ugly girl or anything, but bullets and explosions don’t seem like a turn on.”

“You’re going to make me tell you this story, too?”

“Bingo.”

Ron sat down in his fighting hole, staring off into the dark Korean night. He adjusted the Browning .50 Caliber Machine Gun in front of him, and chambered a round. Ma Deuce, he thought affectionately. No KPA scout team was going to sneak up on him without being ripped in a few pieces by the fifty. Not that he didn’t think they deserved it, because they did, all of them did. His apprehension towards killing had disappeared so long ago that he wasn’t sure he would ever be able to function in normal society.

He didn’t like having watch, but at least he wasn’t in the hole with Keyon or Giovanni. He didn’t have a problem trusting his life in their hands during the day, but they were both too jumpy at night. He probably would have chopped down a few trees by now if he had to listen to their gasps and “oh s***s.” Everything seemed like an enemy solider lurking in the bush when you were in the heart of their country. You just had to know what was and what wasn’t.

As expected, it was no cake walk for the Fighting Fifth to get this far into North Korea. Two months ago, they’d just crossed into the country. Now, they were just southeast of Sariwon, the capital city of North Hwanghe Province. Intelligence told them there was a large contingent of KPA and conscripts protecting the city. It was the last road block between the combined American and South Korean forces and Pyongyang.

Now, it was a waiting game. The Fifth Regiment had to wait for reinforcements and for the divisions in the east to continue to push north to keep the KPA from sending more soldiers to Sariwon. The waiting game was why Ron was in a hole in the ground staring into nothingness. At least, he had someone to entertain him for the next eight hours.

“You know I wonder everyday if there is a propaganda campaign going on back in the States,” Ron said to Julie as he stared at the belt of ammunition leading into the weapon, “Like in World War II, you know? Hell, even like during the Iraq War. I wonder if they have turned them in demons or monsters. Big toothed, snarling, drooling, soldiers with horns and long mustaches.”

“You have a vivid imagination, lance corporal,” Julie mused aloud. She adjusted her position in the hole to make herself more comfortable. It wasn’t easy with three weapons and another human in the small plot, but it was worth the attempt.

The soldier laughed. He pushed his helmet up to scratch his brow, before readjusting it on his head, “I’m just saying. If I was in charge of something like that then I’d have them with goofy teeth, bowl cuts, and over exaggerated slanted eyes. Probably have them holding a bowl of rice and saying ‘death to America’ or something.”

“My, you sound pretty racist except we are fighting gooks not hajjis. They don’t say death to America.”

“To be honest with you, Julie, I never did really like Asians. No one else bothers me much, hell I love Latin women, but Asians just irk my last f***ing nerve. Coming over here and seeing what these little d*** motherf***ers are doing to their own people out here? I just want to shoot them all. If we were fighting alongside the South Koreans, I probably would have tried to kill one of them. Friendly f***ed.”

“Don’t let gunny hear you say that,” Julie chided looking over her shoulder to make sure Sergeant Ross wasn’t standing over them, “You’ll have a one way ticket to the brig for that.”

“A trip to the rear doesn’t sound so bad right now, actually. Too bad, they are on the other side of the front. I’ll just have to settle for shooting an EPW in the head after he surrenders. God knows I’m tired of detaining them.”

The two lapsed into silence as Ron continued to scan the horizon. Everything was quiet except for the occasional sound of jet engines overhead. The Air Force was pulverizing Sariwon to the ground. It seemed like they were trying to wipe it off the map.

Julie understood his hate for North Koreans and probably Koreans in general. She wouldn’t call herself racist, but since arriving in Korea, she had grown a deep disdain for anyone from north of the 38th. They were blind fanatics who needed to be wiped off the face of the Earth so it would be a much better place.

“What are you going to do when you get out of the suck, Pitt?” Ron asked still looking down the sights of the M2.

“I don’t know. I’m only twenty-two years old. I still have my entire life ahead of me even if I put in my four years. I don’t think I want to be a lifer so I figure I’ll go to school on the government’s tab,” she answered.

“You don’t want a family?”

“Of course I do, but I could imagine it would be hard to find a man who wasn’t intimidated by a woman who served in the Marines.”

“You could get an Army man. You know what they say about them,” he said looking over his shoulder with a sly smirk on his face, “Ain’t really men yet, but I’m sure whichever one you found would do his damnedest to out-man you.”

“If that was my only choice, I’d hold out for a zoomie,” she laughed just as another group of planes flew overhead almost driving her point home, “What about you, lance corporal? You have a sewing kit waiting for you back in Texas or Louisiana?”

“Nope, I cut all my girls loose when I went off to basic. I didn’t want to worry about Jody f***ing them while I was away. Not that I would have cared anyway.”

“So I guess the first thing you are going to do when you get back is find some easy p****. Probably knock up the first walking mattress you come across, right?”

Ron leaned back into the fighting hole and took his helmet off, placing it on top of his M16. He took a deep breath. He ran a hand across his hair, missing the mop that used to exist there, “That would be a good plan, but I don’t think I’m going to make it out of this alive. We have to go take Sariwon and then into Kim Jong Little D***’s capital. It doesn’t take that much for a sniper to pick someone off. I’m tempted to go find me a hoochie-san when we go back to the rear. F*** for the last time before some **** blows my head off.”

“Strangely that makes a lot of sense. I mean one of those fast movers could miss their target and drop a bomb right on us.”

“You were the one getting wet over zoomies not too long ago.”

“I was just about to take care of that since you reminded me of the situation we are in. Rub one out, you know? You mind keeping your eyes out for any Koreans while I do.”

“Well, we have eight hours left of watch. There is no one out there. I have some other ideas.”

“That’s all it took?!”

“I left out the rest of the story, dumbass. He spent the next hour trying to convince me. Once he convinced me we were going to die in Sariwon or Pyongyang, I was on the same wavelength he was,” she defended, “I swear he must have been on his way to being a lawyer before enlisting because he knew what to say.”

Caesar laughed remembering all the times he let Ron talk a pair of girls into coming home with them. Ron was a very smooth talker. He had taught Caesar everything he knew after all. Julie must have been the girl he was talking about when he called him last month.

“So if you are here, where is Ron?”

Immediately, her face fell and she turned away from him covering her eyes with her hand. Caesar took in her appearance once again. If she was banged up, it was probably injuries she had gotten overseas which meant that something must have happened. The pieces of the puzzle were on the table, but Caesar didn’t know where to start. All he knew was this woman was sitting next to him, and she knew where his friend was.

“Julie, where is Ron?” he repeated, standing up and moving in front of her so she couldn’t look away from him without getting up as well.

She looked down and shook her head, mumbling something he couldn’t understand. When she looked back up he could see the pain in her eyes and immediately felt like he was about to throw up. He turned away from the woman to compose himself. He had to hear her confirm what was going through his mind. It might be what he thought at all.

He sat back down and dropped his head into his hands, afraid to look at her again, “Julie, tell me where Ron is.”

“Pyongyang,” she whispered.

“He’s still over there?”

She inhaled deeply and stared off into the distance, “No, Caesar. He’s not still over there. He- he- Ron was killed in Pyongyang.”

“What? No! Don’t f***ing lie to me! Where is Ron?!” Caesar shouted. What he had just heard was not fully registering with his brain.

“I’m not lying to you. It happened almost three weeks ago. Ron was killed during the Battle of Pyongyang. That’s why I’m here. I’ve been discharged so I came back to the States.”

“You were there? Tell me how,” he sobbed quietly.

“You don’t want to hear that, Caesar. I don’t want to tell you it either. Remember the good times you had with him. He died protecting your freedom, that’s all you need to know.”

Caesar wiped the tears away from his eyes with the back of his hand and looked at Julie with pleading eyes, “I want to know how he died. I don’t want the bulls*** the government tells people when a loved one is killed in the line of duty. I want you to tell me exactly what happened. Please, Julie, this is the least you can do for me.”

“Are you sure you want to hear this? One hundred percent sure?”

“Yes. Please, tell me,” he pleaded.

“If you must.”

“This is a clusterf***! Where is my f***ing air support?! Hernandez, get on that f***ing com and tell them we have a s*** load of gooks over here! They are coming out the buildings like f***ing ants!” Sergeant Ross shouted to his radio man before turning back to the other soldiers dug in behind a fallen wall. “Keep firing! Send those gooks to meet their f***ing maker!”

Ron leaned out from behind the debris and fired at the advancing North Korean soldiers. The sergeant’s assessment was more than accurate. Every time he hit one, three more seemed to pop up, and he swore there was a never ending stream of them. The higher ups must have gotten some bad information, because it seemed as if all the KPA soldiers who were supposed to be in Sariwon a month ago were now in Pyongyang.

The sounds of gunfire, explosions, and men screaming for their mothers filled his ears and would have made stronger men cower in a corner in the fetal position. He could smell the gunpowder, the smoke from burning fires, food that had been left cooking when the civilians got the hell out of dodge, and the scent of death. There was nothing in basic training that could have prepared a young soldier for what Ron was going through right now.

He’d heard field reporters were calling this the fiercest battle American soldiers had been involved in since the Battle of Fallujah during the War in Iraq. Ron respectfully disagreed. They were fighting a real army, with a real air force and a real navy backing them up. This could only be compared to the battles of a hundred years prior when yellow legged Marines were fighting through Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal, and Okinawa, Kaesong, Inchon, and Pusan or Saigon and Hamburger Hill.

This enemy had all the fervor of the Jihadists with the tactical training and equipment of regular soldiers, and every so often they would call in some help…

“FAST MOVERS! HIT THE DECK!”

The entire platoon ducked down against the rubble as North Korean fighters flew overhead, firing missiles at the buildings the Americans were using as cover. The USAF and their South Korean counterparts were scrambling to take back air superiority. They were caught off-guard, believing that the North Koreans didn’t have the pilots to control the skies over their capital.

“S***, they are getting closer! Push them back!” Ross yelled. His face was beginning to turn tomato red from all the yelling he was doing.

Ron sprung up from his hiding place and dropped the first enemy he targeted before hearing the tell-tell click of an empty magazine. He patted the pockets of his flak jacket, cursing under his breath. He was out of ammo.

“I’m out!” he shouted.

Julie threw him a magazine and continued firing herself. Ron quickly jammed it into the rifle and resumed his battle with the onslaught of KPA soldiers. He ducked down as they fired back at him, just in time to see the soldier manning the Browning get shot in the head. Having their heavy machine gunner killed was not a good omen for the platoon.

“WE HAVE TO FALL BA-“

Sergeant Ross wasn’t able to get his orders out as a pair of rocket propelled grenades slammed into their barricade. Everything fell silent as the dust settled from the two explosions. All Ron could hear was the ringing in his ears. He looked around and noticed he had been thrown a good distance away from the rubble. To his left, Keyon lay dead, his eyes still open. To his right, Giovanni was screaming in agony clutching at his arm.

He felt his body being jostled and he looked up to see Julie standing over him, shouting but he couldn’t hear what she was saying. A bloodied Sergeant Ross came over and started shouting as well just as his hearing came back.

“Come on, DeRossi! We got to get out of here!” he yelled.

Ron tried to sit up, but felt intense pain shoot through his side. He slipped his hand under his flak jacket and pulled it out, coated red in his own blood. He took a shallow breath and shook his head. He wasn’t going to be able to go anywhere.

“I’ll hold them off, gunny. Just go,” he said, pain filling his voice.

“We don’t leave Marines behind, son!”

“I’m going to die, anyway. There is no way you can get me to a hospital,” he groaned. “You have to get out of here, now.”

Ross looked at the soldier before him one last time, gave him a little salute and ordered the rest of the platoon to retreat.

“I’m not leaving you, Ron,” Julie said, crouching down to pick him up.

He weakly smacked her away and smiled, “I’m still your superior, Julie, and I’m ordering you to fall back. You have to survive. I have a feeling you have something more to offer the world.”

Julie reluctantly left him there, following the rest of the platoon to their fall back position which would be easier to defend. Ron flipped over onto his stomach and dragged himself to the Browning. He was surprised the North Koreans hadn’t overrun their position yet.

Struggling to reload the weapon, he said a quiet prayer. He moved his head down as bullets bounced off the cement around him. He thought about his mother, his father, his friends, everything and fit the belt into the M2 and cocked it. The North Koreans were getting closer by the second. He could feel himself beginning to black out, but he had to cover the platoon retreat.

He started firing at the advancing enemy, cutting them down like weeds with the high powered weapon. It was at that moment that he realized his life was over. He would never see his family again. He would never have one of his own. He would never play the game of football again. He would never see the woman he had fallen in love with, and hoped she would make it out of what he now knew only as Hell.

“It took a few hours for us to fight back to that position. We lost a lot of good men. Ron died firing that Browning. The gooks probably finished him off before he died. He’d been shot a few more times,” she continued. Her voice was strained as she tried to hold backs tears. “I wanted to take him with us, but I didn’t have time to argue. He wouldn’t have listened anyway.”

Caesar couldn’t believe it. His best friend, the closest person he had to a brother, was really gone. He had told him not to join the Marines, not to go to f***ing Korea, and now he was gone. He could feel the tears making their way down his face.

Anger, he could do. Sadness, he could manage. But this mixture of both emotions was tearing him apart. He wanted to lash out at someone, anyone. He wanted someone to feel what he was feeling. But with everyone watching his every move, he couldn’t do much more than silently cry.

“I’m sorry, Caesar,” Julie mumbled. She didn’t know what else to say. What could you say to someone who just found out their best friend was killed in action? Ron’s parents would get condolences from the Marine Corps and the government, but Caesar fell outside of that. No one would tell him they were sorry for his loss.

Caesar cleared his throat and looked at her, eyes bloodshot, “You didn’t say you were wounded during that battle. How did you end up being discharged?”

“I was a few days later. We were still in Pyongyang, and I got hit by shrapnel in my arm and my leg. F***ed my arm up pretty bad. They patched me up and were about to send me back to the front when a nurse barged into the tent. She told them they found out I was pregnant when they were checking me out. You could imagine relationships between soldiers in the field are frowned upon. So, they sent me home. Can’t have a pregnant woman fighting, anyway.”

He nodded understandingly. He was secretly happy that this woman survived. She wasn’t just a pregnant woman. She was pregnant with Ron’s child. A part of his friend would live in on in a new life. It made him feel a little better that Ron would not completely disappear from existence.

“Have you talked to Ron’s parents, yet?”

She shook her head, “I’ve seen some scary s*** over in Korea, but I’m terrified about how they will react when I tell them that I’m carrying their grandchild. You didn’t take it too favorably when I told you. They just found out their son was killed and then I pop up with this? They will definitely think I am some crazy woman trying to get money from them.”

“Better question, do you plan on talking to Ron’s parents? They don’t live too far from here, well his dad works for the Department of Defense so he’s usually elsewhere, but Houma is less than an hour away. I can take you.”

“I don’t think I’m ready to, to be honest with you. I don’t want to bombard them with emotions.”

“Understandable. Where are you staying?”

“A hotel a few miles from here. It’s not that nice, but it was serviceable.”

Caesar shook his head and stood up, wiping a fresh trail of tears away, “You’re not staying some rat motel. I’m going to take you to a better place. Don’t worry about the cost. I’ll pay it for however many nights you stay. Don’t bother arguing with me either. It’s the least I can do for you and Ron would want me to.”

She looked up at him, debating the request which sounded more like an order. She didn’t want to take his money, but the look of determination in his eyes told her that he was going to let it go until she agreed to let him do what he wanted. Nodding, she gingerly stood up, batting his hand away when he tried to help her to her feet.

“I’m not going to stay too long so you don’t have to worry about draining your bank account on me.”

He smiled sadly as he slung his bag over his shoulder, “Didn’t Ron tell you I was rich? A few months at a five star hotel wouldn’t put a dent in any of my bank accounts. Are you good to walk? I can go find you a wheel chair or something.”

“You’re pushing it, Caesar,” she said waving for him to lead the way. He held his hands up in defense and started towards the parking lot.

The pair didn’t talk much as they made their way across the campus. Caesar was getting his fair share of weird looks due to his bloodshot eyes and tear-stained face as well as the woman following behind him. He was sure most of the people they past thought he was the reason for the sling and the slight limp even though Julie Pitt could probably kick his ass if she wanted to.

He was still having trouble coming to terms with the fact that he would never see his friend again. He was so caught up in his own thoughts that he didn’t even realize his feet had taken him all the way to his car. It was then he knew he was out of it. He was moving on autopilot. Just going through the motions of things he had done a million times before.

“Nice car,” Julie mumbled looking down at the expensive vehicle.

“It makes do,” he said as he unlocked the doors and slipped into the driver’s seat, “I think the Ritz-Carlton over on Canal will do.”

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. He must have been thinking out loud, because he wasn’t even looking at her as he cranked up the car. She could tell he was trying, albeit in vain, to control his emotions while he drove. His shoulders were shaking and every so often a stray tear would roll down his cheek. His knuckles were white from how tightly he was squeezing the steering wheel.

Traffic was terrible as usual, and Caesar desperately needed to get Julie to the hotel. He could feel the small dam he still had around his emotions beginning to break. He was able to prevent a major breakdown so far, but it was coming. He could feel it, but he had too much pride to let it happen in front of anyone.

He looked over at the battered woman in the passenger seat. She was looking out the window and muttering what sounded like a poem or a song under her breath.

“His uniform is unlike anything you’ve ever seen; And the Germans called him Devil Dog, but his real name is marine.”

He shook his head and looked back at the road. He would never fully understand what happened to Ron, no matter how hard he tried. There was nothing that he could compare to the experience of fighting for your life every day, and eventually losing that battle. He felt so ignorant, so jaded. It was like he had been walking around with blinders on and rose petals in front of his nose.

Hearing a sniffle from Julie, he glanced at her again and heard the next bit of whatever it was she saying.

“He’d get up every morning way before the sun, and he’d run a hundred miles or more, way before the day was done.”

Finally getting to the Ritz-Carlton, he parked on the side of the road and turned the car off. He flipped down the visor and stared into the mirror, not recognizing the pained vesture that was looking back at him. Running a hand through his hair, he took a deep breath and started to get out of the car, but stopped when he saw Julie was still staring blankly out the window. He decided to wait for her to finish the poem she was reciting, listening closely.

“We’ll fight them on the ground, we’ll fight them in the sky. When the Army and Navy are heading home, the Marines are standing by. And when he gets to heaven, to St. Peter he will tell; ‘Another Marine reporting for duty, Sir. I’ve served my time in Hell’.”

He gently placed a hand on her shoulder and waited until she turned towards him, eyes red and puffy, “We’re here.”

The two got out of the car, Caesar dropped a dime into the parking meter, and they made their way into one of the fanciest hotels in New Orleans. They got a few strange looks from the employees, probably because of their lack of luggage. Caesar ignored them and walked straight up to the desk. He told them to give Julie whatever she asked for he was paying.

He glanced around the lobby and found an ATM nestled off in the corner. Walking over to it, he withdrew three hundred dollars before going back to the desk where Julie was finishing up her reservations. Probably didn’t get anything extravagant and he had half a mind to upgrade it, but if it made her comfortable then he would let it slide.

“That’ll be-“

Caesar slapped a card on the desk cutting the man off then he turned to Julie and held the money out to her, “In case you need anything else. I’ll take you to get you stuff from the other place later or tomorrow,” he grabbed a business card from the desk and wrote his number on the back, holding that out to her as well, “If you need anything, call me. I don’t care what I’m doing I’ll come.”

“You don’t have to do all this, Caesar.”

“If you need anything, call me,” he reiterated, taking her hand and placing the money and the card into it. He took his card from the man and nodded his thanks, “Go up and get some rest now. I’ll take you out to lunch or something and we can talk about you going meet Ron’s parents, okay?”

“Okay,” she said reluctantly. He was too persistent to argue with, “Thank you.”

He shook his head and gave her a small hug, not wanting to hurt her arm, “No, thank you. I’ll see you soon.”

She nodded and Caesar left her to it. He could feel the last threads of his sanity beginning to break. Practically running to his car, he hoped in and sped off from the hotel. Tears were quickly starting to cloud his vision and he had to vigorously wipe them away to allow him to drive properly. He didn’t know why he was driving back to the campus. He had no intentions of going back to his dorm room. It wasn’t like he got along well enough with his roommate to foot his problems on the kid.

Needing somewhere to vent his emotions, he found parked on Zimple Street. In his time at Tulane, he had never gone to Zimple Street before. There was nothing there for him, not until today. Taking the key from the ignition he threw it onto the passenger seat and stared at the few cars parked in the Catholic Center’s parking lot.

Caesar hadn’t been to church since his sophomore year in high school and he hadn’t gone willingly since he was thirteen years old. He wasn’t even sure what one was supposed to do in a church.

He stared at the roof of the car and inhaled deeply. The only question his mind was, why? Dropping his head into his hands, he started to sob uncontrollably. All of his sadness came pouring out at once as tears poured out of his eyes as if a levee had been broken. Ron was dead. The first loved one he had ever lost, taken from the world much too soon. His anchor for the last six years was dead.

Then the anger hit.

He yelled furiously at the world and began beating on the steering wheel imagining it was the North Korean soldier who’d killed his brother. He didn’t care that he probably looked like a five year old throwing a tantrum in his car, wet cheeks from crying, shouting at nothing, and hitting everything within striking range. To add the icing on top of the trashing he had given the steering column, he drew his fist back and punched the rearview mirror sending it into the windshield. A hole remained where the mirror and the windshield collided.

Brushing the crushed glass from his now bloodied knuckles, he composed himself a bit. He reached into the center console and pulled out his Vanderbilt State Championship ring, the one Ron had helped him get. He put it on and got out of the car, not bothering to lock it. He walked to the trunk and retrieved his Vanderbilt letterman’s jacket, filled with patches that he had gotten because of Ron. Those two items made him feel like he was back in high school, a much better time than this. Back then, he probably would have been planning a party with Ron right now.

Slowly, he walked into the center and looked around warily. The lights were dimmed with the sunlight providing most of the rest of it. There were two other people sitting on one side so he decided to be as far away from them as possible. He took the front pew on the opposite side.

He knelt down between the pews and mumbled the only prayer he knew. He wasn’t feeling very religious at the moment, anyway. Not wanting to pull himself back up, he rested his head on the back of the pew in front of him as he started to cry once again.

He didn’t understand how people could believe in God. He couldn’t even fake it anymore. Ron DeRossi was a model Catholic and a better person, sure he did some questionable things in the eyes of the church, but he confessed his sins weekly. How could this ever powerful deity take a person like that so soon? If there was a higher power then he needed to be shown proof, and he needed it immediately.

Never before had he felt as lonely as he did at that moment. He considered all of his friends on the campus temporary, not knowing the inner workings of his mind. They would disappear from his life as fast as they had entered it. Ron was the only male he entrusted that type of thing. Fort Worth was not far, enough to feel completely isolated. Even when he was in Korea, Caesar knew one day he would come home. That wasn’t even a possibility anymore.

“Excuse me, my child.”

Caesar looked up to see the church’s priest standing at the edge of the pew.

“I haven’t seen you here before, are you a parishioner?” the man said softly.

“A what? Oh no, I’m not. I suppose I’m technically Catholic, I was baptized and all that, just not a member of this parish. I go to school here and just happened to stumble in today,” Caesar rambled, wiping his face.

“You look like you have a lot on your mind. When was the last time you confessed your sins?”

Caesar laughed humorously and ran his fingers through his hair, “With all due respect, father, it has nothing to do with my sins.”

“Well, God is listening.”

“I bet,” Caesar snorted.

“I don’t know what to tell you. If you do not wish to talk to me or God, maybe you would feel better talking to someone closer to your age who understands?” he asked motioning towards the back of the center. “The young lady in the back comes here every Wednesday. She was a good relationship with the Lord. Perhaps, she can help you get closer to Him?”

Caesar looked over his shoulder to where the man was pointing. He rubbed his eyes and narrowed them a bit to see get more light to his pupils. He sprung up to his feet immediately when he realized he recognized the girl in question. He could spot her a mile away…

“Thank you for your time, father,” Caesar mumbled before brushing past the priest and leaving the Center. He came here because he was sure that he wouldn’t run into anyone he knew. He knew that particular girl all too well...

Kaley watched Caesar walk into the Catholic Center and immediately noticed the cuts on his right hand. They were fresh, still bleeding. She watched as he looked around and took in the distraught, pained look in his eyes. She had only seen him like these a few times before. It wasn’t a look that he sported on a regular basis. Hell, he didn’t go to church on a regular basis either. She could swear he was lying when he told her that he was a baptized Catholic.

It was equally strange to see him wearing his Vanderbilt letterman’s jacket. He hadn’t donned that since they had come to Tulane last year.

Her heart clenched in her chest when he knelt and began to cry. He probably thought no one could hear him or wouldn’t care that he was crying. She wished she knew what was going through that mind of his, but knew that he wouldn’t talk to her. He probably wouldn’t understand the concept of hurting because the one you loved was hurting so she could only watch him from her spot in the back of the church.

The priest approached him and the two had a hushed conversation before he motioned towards where she was sitting. Caesar looked back and jumped up when he realized she was sitting there, so many emotions etched on his face.

He wasted no time in leaving, keeping his head down and refusing to look at her again. She thought about going after him but stayed rooted to the pew. There was so much hurt in his eyes, she would only add more and that was the last thing she wanted to do.

That was the best update I've ever read, not just from you, but from anybody. Sure there were minor errors here and there, but the raw emotion you made the reader feel was very impressive. Nice read man, nice read.

pretty powerful update my man. outside of whats already been said, i certainly hope ron's parents accept julie and rons child. if not, i bet caesar will easily set them up for life and make sure the child is well taken care. being brothers, he will probably care for the child as if it's his own. on the flip side, hopefully this emotional time wont snatch away the little production he built up from the last game. caesar has never been very good with dealing with emotions on the field.

Caesar clenched his gloved fists. Playing a football game was the last thing he wanted to do right now. He was emotionally exhausted after three days of dealing with the news of Ron’s death. Sleep had already been difficult over the last few months, but now it was simply impossible. He was running on fumes, but he was determined to snap out of his funk and use this game as a proper tribute to his fallen friend.

“HIKE!”

The South Alabama cornerback across from him was miniature compared to Caesar’s large frame and his half-hearted attempt to jam him at the line of scrimmage was easily batted away by one of the sophomore’s giant paws.

Despite his tired mind, his muscles expertly executed the route he was tasked with running. He turned his head as soon as he made his cut and Darren delivered the pass a half a step in front of him allowing him to catch the ball in stride.

A linebacker closed the small space between the two athletes just as Caesar tucked the ball. He could imagine the linebacker licking his lips at the opportunity to lay out an unsuspecting receiver going across the middle of the field. Without a moment to spare, he lowered his shoulder and threw his body into the linebacker.

Roars went up around the stadium as he plowed through the Jaguar defender and turned up field. Just as he crossed the first down marker, two South Alabama defenders jumped on his back but he managed to drag them another three yards before going down.

“What a way to start the game! Darren Eguia to Caesar Jenkins for a thirteen yard gain. That may have been the hardest Jenkins has run this entire season, and boy did he give Carlos Finch something to think about the next time he tries to bring down the Green Wave receiver!”

…

“Eguia on the quarterback keeper. There’s no room for him in the middle so he cuts to the outside looking for some space to run. WHOA! Jenkins lays a crushing block on Shaquille Harris opening room for his quarterback to get out past the first down marker before jogging out of bounds. Caesar Jenkins may have come to play today ladies and gentlemen!”

…

“First and ten for the Green Wave from their own forty-two yard line. Quick snap by Eguia and he gives it to Tyrone Havas. The senior running back ducks between the line and shows a little power as he pushes forward for a five yard gain. South Alabama might need to take not allowing him the first down as a small moral victory.”

…

“Second and five on the forty-seven. The fullback John Hicks joins Havas and Eguia in the backfield for some rare playing time. Brandon Hawkins at the end of the line. Jason Williams and Caesar Jenkins on either side of the formation. We don’t see this formation often from the Green Wave. Here’s the snap. Eguia hands it to Hi—wait, it’s a fake! He draws back and lets it fly downfield! Showing those NFL scouts some arm strength… and some accuracy as the ball falls perfectly over Jenkins’ shoulder! It’s a foot race and there is no way he’s going to be caught! For the first time this season, Caesar Jenkins is going to score a touchdown!”

Caesar quickly looked over both of his shoulders and saw no defender in sight. A sense of relief overcoming him as he slowed his sprint to a light run and slowly to not much more than a quick walk. It felt strange to him to feel such relief from scoring a touchdown; a usual occurrence for him. But then his mind started to wander away from football to Ron, a common occurrence the past few days as well. As the finish line got closer, Caesar lost more control of his limbs, his arms now limply flailing around his torso and his legs acting as if they'd give out on him.

As soon as he heard the whistle he stumbled for a moment, then dropped to both his knees without a second thought and let the ball roll from his hand. He was glad he could shield his face from the nearby fans as emotions rocked through his body for the umpteenth time since hearing the news. He was here, playing a game for people's entertainment, and Ron was dead, protecting the country for people's freedom. Ron had heard his calling though, and Caesar knew what his was: football. And he was going to put his body on the line from now on, just as Ron put his life on the line.

…

“South Alabama’s offense, led by Adam Costa, is taking the field for the Jaguars’ first drive of the game and the Tulane fans aren’t making it easy for him. This stadium is absolutely rocking! Costa is trying to give orders to his team, but I doubt they can hear anything down there. He’s back under center with the play clock winding down. He’s going to have to get the snap off quickly. There it is with only a second left on the clock. The offensive line looks completely loss and Clint Bingham slips by to bring Costa down in the backfield.”

…

“Costa back in the shotgun for second and long. South Alabama head coach Jamie Martin may have thrown his initial plans out of the window after the first play for his team. Ishmael Jones shifts into the backfield for a little added protection. Costa calls for the snap… calls for it again… calls for it once more… and finally he gets it, but it’s high and he has to run back to catch it. Tulane’s defensive line rips through the overwhelmed Jaguar linemen. Costa is running out of time. He can’t throw it away! Throws it downfield towards Anthony Sykes, but it’s short. Christian Pincus dives for it… Oh no! It’s just inches away. Third down, Jags.”

…

“Third and fifteen and South Alabama is going to keep it on the ground with a draw play to Marshon Winslow. He’s taken down after only a one or two yard gain. It looks like the Jaguars were playing it better safe than sorry. Here comes the punting unit, and I’m sure Ross Henderson will be getting a lot work in today.”

…

“Tulane’s offense is back on the field at their forty-four after the punt. Four wide for the Green Wave. It looks like Caesar Jenkins has inspired some confidence in the coaching staff as he is on the wide side of the field all alone. Darren Eguia calls for the ball and throws it out to the sophomore. Ethan Phillips tries to wrap Jenkins up, but the receiver punches him away with a vicious stiff arm. Alonzo Williams takes aim, and he bounces off Jenkins as well. Two Jaguar defenders jump on him… He’s still up! A third finally finishes off the tackle after a seven yard gain. I don’t know what has gotten into Caesar Jenkins today, but he refuses to go down easily.”

…

“A quick pass to Jason Williams and the freshman gets a quick ten yards before being brought down.”

…

“Tyrone Havas on the run. Juke, spin, juke, and a nice gain of eight yards. The Green Wave are throwing everything at the Jaguars including the kitchen sink so far in this game.”

…

“Desmond Smith in the game for the first time and he gets his first carry, bursting through the line of scrimmage for a gain of six yards.”

…

“First and ten from the South Alabama twenty-five yard line. Eguia gets the ball from center, it’s another pass. He has all day in the pocket. Brandon Hawkins is over the middle and Eguia gets it out to him. The big tight end rumbles towards the endzone, leaving South Alabama players in his wake. He stretches out and breaks the plane for the score. Between that run and the two by Caesar Jenkins, the Jaguars are going to be nursing some bruised bodies by the end of the game.”

…

Devin slowly walked towards the line of scrimmage, staring at the flustered South Alabama quarterback. Coach Wesley had dialed up a lot of pressure on the first drive to get Adam Costa off his game and it seemed to have worked. Now, the junior’s eyes were darting all over the field trying to identify potential blitzers. He just needed the quarterback to look over at him and make the adjustments to open them up for the blitz from the opposite side of the formation.

Costa barked out orders to his linemen and pointed at Devin for the running back who was likely being held in to block. The quarterback stepped back behind the center and snapped the ball. Devin took a step forward before dropping back into coverage just as Scott flew around the edge on the other side of the field.

Costa panicked when he saw the linebacker bearing down on him and threw it to his tight end going across the middle of the formation. Unfortunately, he threw it too far out in front of him and Devin was there to make a play on the ball, but it bounced off his hands and straight into the air.

Christian practically jumped over both Devin and the tight end to make the catch, and somehow managed not to land on the two players. Devin barely had time to react before the senior shot past him on the way to the endzone. He threw himself in front of the tight end and tripped him up to give Christian some room.

He watched from the turf as Christian juked around the running back and jogged into the endzone for the touchdown.

…

“Costa is slammed to the turf hard by Scott Garcia.”

…

“Batted away by Curt Perez. Things aren’t looking good for the Jaguars and we are still in the first quarter.”

…

“Devin King on the tackle and South Alabama is facing another fourth down.”

…

“Caesar Jenkins on the receiving end of another Darren Eguia pass and he powers forward to tack on another six yards for a fifteen yard gain.”

…

“Eguia keeps it for himself and dives forward for a gain of six yards. It’ll be second down from the fifty.”

…

“Tulane’s going back to the air on second down from midfield. Eguia pump fakes once, draws back and fires a bullet to Jenkins on the sideline. The sophomore catches it easily. Phillips lunges at him, but ends up grasping at air. Jenkins turns on the jets, and has the South Alabama defense struggling to keep up. The thirty, the twenty, the ten, touchdown Tulane! Caesar Jenkins does it again!”

Caesar tossed the ball to the referee and jogged down the sideline back to the bench, pushing anyone away who tried to celebrate with him. Not only was he not in the mood to celebrate, but he was not finished with his breakout game yet.

…

“Adam Costa finally completes a pass, but his receiver is quickly taken down for a short three yard gain. It only took him an entire quarter to have enough time to actually throw a decent ball. Let’s hope he can turn things around.”

…

“Costa is running for his life again. This time he tries to make something happen himself and tucks the ball to head up the field! Derrick Neal swipes at the ball and knocks it out of his hands, but Marvin Johnson dives on it for the Jaguars. That’ll move South Alabama five yards closer to the first down marker.”

…

“Marshon Winslow takes the handoff on third down and tries to power his way through the pile up at the line of scrimmage. He goes down after what looks to be three yards, but the referee is calling for a measurement. It’s going to be close. He’s signaling inches, and Coach Martin isn’t going to take any chances with giving the Green Wave a short field as he sends the punting unit onto the field. His players don’t look too happy about that decision.”

…

“The Green Wave, up twenty-eight nothing, are back on the field after a booming punt and South Alabama finally has them staring down a long field, but I think that just gives them more space to pad their stats. Tulane is still looking to pass the ball as Eguia drops back and gets it out to Wendell Jones on a quick slant for a gain of eight yards to move the ball to the thirty-two yard line.”

…

“Back to the ground with Desmond Smith and he gets the first down and some with a seven yard gain of his own.”

…

“Eguia goes back to his safety valve in Jenkins and as we’ve seen all day so far the receiver plows through defenders like a human bowling ball. Tack another catch and twenty-five yards onto Caesar Jenkins’ stat sheet.”

…

“Caesar Jenkins catches another one, stiff arms a Jaguar and takes a crushing hit from Carlos Finch, but the big sophomore only stumbles out of bounds. I’m sure Finch is getting tired of a receiver showing him up in a battle of brute strength. Eight yard gain for the Green Wave.”

…

“Tyrone Havas takes the handoff and the middle of the line parts like the Red Sea for him. The speedy back slices through the defense and practically walks into the endzone for the touchdown. Thirty-five to zero in favor of the Green Wave.”

…

“Costa’s pass is knocked down by Devin King and the South Alabama quarterback is starting to show his frustration. Doesn’t help that the crowd is letting him know how poorly they think he’s played today.”

…

“Winslow is brought down in the backfield by Derrick Neal for a loss of two yards.”

…

“Curt Perez there to make the play on the pass and yet again the Jaguars are going to be bringing on their punt team.”

…

“With seven minutes remaining in the half, the Green Wave have sent their starting offense out despite being up thirty-five points and dominating their opponents. First and ten from their own thirty-six yard line. Three wide for Tulane. Eguia calls for the snap and drops back to pass once more. Jenkins is calling for the ball, and he’s going to get it. A good pass from the quarterback and a good catch from the receiver. Jenkins spins around a defender and bounces off a second before turning it up field. Alonzo Williams is the only player between Caesar Jenkins and a third touchdown. He has the angle on him. He’s closing in… WHOA! Caesar Jenkins plowed through him like a train with a full head of steam. No one’s left to stop him. The forty, the thirty, the twenty, the ten. Touchdown Tulane!”

Caesar tossed the ball to the referee as soon as he heard the whistle signaling the score. He pointed to the sky and gave Ron a little salute before jogging off the field. Again, he dodged the celebration with his teammates and headed for the far end of the sideline. He sat down on the bench by himself, only the team’s managers milling around him.

He took his helmet off and placed it between his feet. The coaches had already decided that the starters would only play to the half unless they increased the lead on that drive, so his day was officially over. Dropping his head into his hands, he took a deep breath and sighed. He could feel the bruises beginning to form from all the hits he had taken and all the players he had slammed into, but not even that would be able to dull his pain.

Fiona Sanders stormed into the Tulane athletics complex. She was livid. They knew she called every Monday to get the coaching staff’s thoughts on the previous game or to talk about the next. The Green Wave were playing Boise State this Saturday, one of the biggest games on the season for them, and they refused to return her calls.

How did anyone expect for her to do her job if the people she had to interview had their heads too far up their asses?

The reporter walked up to the receptionist, drumming her fingers angrily on the desk. The girl was on the phone and held a finger up to her which only made the woman madder. She was really at her wit’s end because of Tulane and its employees.

“I don’t have all day!” Fiona shouted in frustration, an action that the girl ignored by turning her back to the reporter. She quickly finished the phone call and put on her best fake smile before turning back towards the angry journalist.

“How may I help you, Ms. Sanders?”

“You know why I’m here, Alessa. What is so important that every coach has been unavailable for two days? Hope on your little phone there and find out for me. Unlike some people, my job is very time sensitive so make it quick.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t do that.”

“What the hell do you mean you can’t do that?!” Fiona snapped.

“Well,” Alessa started. She searched around the desk for a moment and came up with a piece of paper which she slid to the writer, giving her a moment to look it over, “As you can see, people are very angry with you around here. The athletic director is getting a lot of complaints about your behavior on our campus. Coach Hall is tired of you badgering him and his players and the other coaches don’t even refer to you by name. Not to mention, Coach Dawson doesn’t like that you always park in his parking space.”

Fiona snatched the paper up and balled it up, tossing it back across the desk, “Dawson?! I don’t give a damn what Dawson thinks, he is the gymnastics coach. I was under the impression they stopped calling that a sport fifty years ago. Look, I really don’t care what Hall has to say. You get his ass down here to give me some answers. It’s his duty as the coach.”

“I’m sorry, but again I can’t do that. You’ll just have to come to the weekly press conferences like the other reporters do,” the girl said dismissively.

“I don’t know how you Spanish people handle things in your country, but this is highly unprofessional. Maybe you could tell your boss that.”

Alessa’s eyes narrowed and she found herself needing to take a deep breathe to calm herself, “I’m not Spanish. I’m Brazilian. It’s not the same thing. You wouldn’t like it if I called you Canadian, because you are white, would you?”

“Frankly, I don’t give a damn. You just make sure you get this fixed by tomorrow,” the woman spat before turning on her heel and leaving.

“Sim tudo o que, cadela,” Alessa said in her native tongue as soon as the door closed behind the reporter.

“Jesus f***ing Christ, I am f***ing bored,” Kaley groaned staring at the ceiling of Cameron’s dorm room. She had spent the last thirty minutes counting the little indentions on the ceiling tiles. Now up to five hundred and six, she decided to give up. For the first time in her short college life, she was actually regretting not choosing to spend time with her sorority sisters. Surely, she wouldn’t be this God damn bored.

“I’m, uh, sorry? You don’t have to stay here if you don’t want to,” Cameron stammered.

She shook her head, “I didn’t mean to say that out loud. It’s just really quiet in here. Why is your roommate never here?”

“He’s always working on something.”

‘Sounds about right,’ Kaley thought to herself. Most of the people she’d met on this floor of Detillier Hall were in the tougher majors at Tulane; engineering, architecture, and the like. She was positive the only person who was majoring in something different lived across the hall. He would probably know how to get rid of this boredom as well. She shook her head again, this time to get rid of those thoughts. That wasn’t going to do her any good anyway.

“Why do y’all not have a TV or something in here? Some form of entertainment?”

Cameron glanced over his shoulder for a moment before turning back to the paper he was writing, “We both decided that we liked it quiet in here so it didn’t make sense to have that in here. It’s not that bad once you get used to it.”

She wanted to smack herself. It had taken her all this time to realize that this was the first time she was not studying in Cameron’s room. She never noticed that the room contained only the bare essentials and not much more. Of course, she was very focused on her studies, but taking it too far and doing too much would drive someone off the deep end.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Haven’t you been doing that for the last few minutes?” Cameron laughed.

“Well, I guess I have. You find me attractive, don’t you?”

“Of course.”

Kaley nodded slowly. It had been three months since she last had sex and now that she was in something that resembled a relationship, she had decided that it was time to reset to that counter, “So, when an attractive girl is laying in your bed bored, wouldn’t you want to do something about that?”

“What would I do about that?” he asked swiveling in his chair so he was facing her.

“Really?” she asked, quirking an eyebrow up.

It took him a moment, but he was able to figure out what she was referring to, “Oh, oh! Well, no not really.”

“I’m just curious, but why?”

“I’m not a virgin if that’s what you’re thinking, but how you just came up with that is a bit slutty,” he shrugged.

She sat up and threw her legs over the side of the bed so they were face-to-face, “Having sex is what people do, Cameron. Yes, I enjoy sex. Does that make me a slut?”

“A little.”

“Well, f*** you,” she snapped. She stood up and grabbed her bag from a nearby chair, “Congratulations on being a f***ing asshole, by the way.”

Cameron put his hand up to stop her from leaving, “I didn’t mean it like that it’s just…”

“I got it, buddy. We could have avoided wasting our time with this little friendship if you would have been honest months ago,” Kaley said shoving his hand aside and making her way to the door. She opened it, but turned back when she was standing in the threshold, “Just for future reference, honest isn’t always the best f***ing policy. A simple no would have sufficed in this situation.”

And with that she slammed the door and stomped her way down the hall. That’s what she gets for going for someone who was obviously not her type.

With expert precision and speed, a knife sliced through the greens on the cutting board, barely avoiding the fingers that were holding the vegetables in place. It was a dance that made you cringe each time the blade connected with the wood and breathe a sigh of relief each time the person wielding the knife didn’t hack off a piece of their finger. One wouldn’t expect a college student to pull it off without a few battle scars to show proof of practice.

Watching a rich student-athlete perform the task was a bit on the shocking side.

“Are you trying to cook everything in the apartment?”

Caesar looked up at the blonde sitting next to Tyrone as he mechanically pushed the now finely chopped greens to the side and placed an onion on the board. He spared a glance around Darren and Tyrone’s small apartment. If he was attempting to cook everything in the seniors’ humble abode, he had achieved that goal long before the troika of females arrived.

Darren laughed through a mouthful of hamburger and fries. He swallowed the food and snatched up a fry, pointing over his shoulder at Caesar with it, “This motherf***er here, man. Full of surprises. I don’t know what he did to this hamburger, but its f***ing delicious.”

“I dropped it on the floor,” Caesar said indifferently as he dropped the ingredients he’d cut into a pot that contained a dark roux.

“Well f***, I’m going to have to keep that in mind the next time I cook,” the quarterback chuckled.

“I thought you didn’t know how to cook?”

“No, Melanie, I told you that I didn’t know how to cook for you,” Darren corrected as he continued to shovel food into his mouth.

“You’re an ass. I can’t believe I slept with you.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. You weren’t regretting anything when it was happening. So stop bitching and let me eat in peace.”

Caesar shook his head as he listened to the two bicker. He was actually surprised that one would even show her face here after Darren’s attempts to avoid her at all costs. He was lucky. He was the only single one in the apartment after Hayden had finally accepted Caesar’s apologies, but they were both in a better boat than Tyrone. Stephanie was a ball breaker. Putting up with her for more than a few hours would have driven him crazy.

“You’ve been really quiet lately, is something wrong?”

Tearing his attention away from the stove, Caesar looked over his shoulder at the petite redhead who was leaning against the counter. He didn’t know how to answer that question. There was a lot wrong, but Hayden no longer came close to being someone who he could confide in. He knew she would disappear as soon as a relationship with him no longer suited her, not that he blamed her in the least bit.

“Nope,” he answered before turning back to his shrimp gumbo.

“I never took you as someone who knew how to cook so well. Who taught you?”

“Our cooks,” his answer was as curt and to the point as the last one.

“Why are you giving me these short answers?”

Caesar poured some salt into the broth and gave it a stir. Without looking, he turned on a rice cooker and the faucet over a nearby sink before finally answering, “I don’t like to f*** up.”

“You’re full of s***, Caesar. You know what you are doing without even looking, but having a conversation will make you mess up? Save that s*** for someone who hasn’t been watching you float around this kitchen like a chef in a five star restaurant. I don’t know. Maybe, you are too oblivious to realize something is wrong with you,” Hayden stated.

He turned around and reached around her to grab the bag of rice he’d left on the counter. He leaned down so the two of them were eye level with one another before speaking, “Hayden, nothing is wrong with me. I just don’t have anything to say.”

“If you say so,” she shrugged, deciding not to push the subject any further. Anyone who had spent more than a significant amount of time around Caesar would know something was wrong with Caesar when he was being this quiet. He was the type of person who was an endless fountain of talking, especially if it was about something he was interested in.

“Change the channel, bro. I’m tired of watching these f***ers jabber on about us!” Tyrone shouted from the living room.

“Technically, they are jabbering on about Caesar, not us,” Darren corrected.

Caesar glanced over his shoulder and shook his head, “It doesn’t matter to me. I’m not paying attention either way.”

“See? That settles that dispute,” the quarterback laughed lounging back with his hands behind his head.

Little did they know, Caesar was fully aware of what this set of talking heads was saying about him. He had watched every sports talk show of the day and was sure that this one was no different. College football analysts weren’t too impressed by his performance against South Alabama. In fact, the two hundred sixty yard, three touchdown outing was something that was expected even from someone in the middle of their “sophomore slump.”

Most believed that he would not be able to repeat the same stat line against a better team. Truthfully, he didn’t think that he could repeat the same stat line against a better team. He was a man possessed against the Jaguars, and he was still feeling the after effects of all the hits he had taken during the game. His right shoulder was one giant bruise.

One analyst had swung below the belt in his bit about Caesar’s “breakout” game.

He reminded the country that the best Jenkins was playing in Baton Rouge. Caesar only had three touchdowns on the season. Erik had four. It was a little embarrassing to know that a safety had more touchdowns than him.

“Does hearing that s*** on the TV bother you?” Hayden asked, tearing him from his thoughts.

A thin layer of snow covered the blue turf of Bronco Stadium. It hadn’t been long since the Green Wave last played in the snow, but that didn’t mean that they were any more prepared for the biting cold and frozen flakes falling from the sky. Admittedly, it was a bit tough to properly practice for the cold in a place where it hadn’t snowed for a little over seven years.

“You don’t think it’s a little cold, Caesar?” Tyrone asked as they stood on the sideline, watching the kick coverage team take the field.

“What the f*** are you talking about, man?”

Darren chuckled and poked the receiver’s bare arms, “He’s talking about you standing out here like you are some offensive linemen who lives and breathes this winter s***. You know us skill position players bundle up like newborns when the weather is like this.”

“Well, I figure a little running around will warm me up so I’ll be fine,” the sophomore shrugged, “Wearing all that s*** is just going to mess me up anyway.”

“Suit yourself, tough guy.”

…

“The Broncos take the field at the thirty-two yard line after a twenty-seven yard return by Lamar Harper. This has been a highly anticipated matchup ever since the game was announced, junior quarterback Clayton Barr and the vaunted Boise State offense against Devin King, Christian Pincus, and their teammates on that tough Tulane defense.”

“The fans are in for a treat, that’s for sure. It’ll be a cat and mouse game all day, each team trying to get the upper hand. Barr may be the best quarterback in Boise State history and has already thrown for over three thousand yards through the first nine games of the season. Not to mention, this is Bronco Stadium. Teams have to move mountains to beat the Broncos in Boise.”

“Barr lines up in the shotgun with Khalid Warren joining him in the backfield. Freddie Bower and Harvey Reed to the left, Louis Wayne and Andre McAfee to the right of the formation. The junior gets the ball, and it looks like the Broncos are swinging for the fences on their first play from scrimmage. Barr steps up and throws it downfield in the direction of Harvey Reed.”

Devin looked up and easily picked out the ball cutting through the Idaho sky. He began slowing down at it arched towards him and the receiver he was guarding. Laying out, he reached over Reed and knocked the ball to the turf.

“And that’ll be batted incomplete by Devin King.”

“It looked like Clayton Barr wanted to send a message to the Green Wave on the first play of the game. Warren was open in the flat, but he chose to go for the long pass. Reed may be known for his sure hands, but it takes a bit more than that to catch a pass against a cornerback who not only runs a 4.3 forty, but is also six-foot-three.”

“He’s definitely a tough cornerback to throw against, and it’s not like this Tulane defense really has a weak spot in the secondary. Every player either has excellent ball skills or the speed to make up for any shortcomings.”

…

“Second and ten for Boise State, senior fullback Marshall Hoffman has joined Barr and Warren in the backfield. It’s going to be a handoff to Warren, but Derrick Neal slices through the line and brings the running back down for a loss before he can even get going.”

“The Green Wave are two-for-two to start this game. The veteran linebacker read that play perfectly and the end result was a tackle in the backfield. Barr has to remember that he isn’t playing the Idaho team that the Broncos demolished last week.”

…

“Boise State is facing a long third down after the last play. The Broncos bring their four receiver formation back out for the obvious passing situation. Tulane comes out in their dime package to combat the four wide set. Barr gets the snap and drops back, scanning the field for an open receiver. The pressure is beginning to get to him and he gets it out to Andre McAfee before getting slammed to the ground by Geoff Smith. McAfee shakes off Curt Perez and manages to pick up the yards needed for the first down.”

“Curt Perez can only blame himself for that. All he had to do was make the tackle as soon as McAfee caught the pass and the Tulane offense would have been coming onto the field. Now, they are going to have to deal with this drive a little longer.”

…

“Warren takes the ball to midfield on his first carry of the game. It’ll be second and six.”

…

“Three step drop by Barr. He snaps off a quick pass to Reed, but Scott Garcia hits him and hits him hard enough to knock the ball free. Boise State will be looking at another third down.”

…

“Barr gets the ball out to Warren on the screen. The runningback follows his blockers across the forty-four and picks up another first down. The Green Wave just can’t seem to get off the field.”

“It’s uncharacteristic for this Tulane defense, but it seems like they are turning it off every time they get to third down and they’ve paid the price for it both times so far. If this keeps up, we may be looking at a shootout.”

“I’m sure the fans wouldn’t mind.”

…

“Pass on first down, and Tulane is bringing the blitz from the outside. Barr is running out of time, but the coverage is once again solid downfield. Barr steps up in the pocket and right into Clint Bingham who takes him down for the sack.”

…

“Warren takes the ball on the draw and gets a few yards before running into a surge of Tulane defenders pushing him back, and yet again the Broncos will be looking at a third down.”

…

“Third and seven from the Tulane forty-one yard line, Barr is in the shotgun with three split out wide. He sends Louis Wayne in motion to the opposite side of the formation. Barks out his cadence and gets the snap from the center. Rolls to his left, pump fakes once, twice, throws it to Wayne… he has it, but Christian Pincus shoves him out of bounds. Did he manage to get a foot down?”

“It was close, but I don’t think he did.”

“The referees get together, and discuss it. They are signaling him out of bounds. The fans are not happy as the replay is shown on the board, but it doesn’t look like Boise State will be challenging the play.”

“You can clearly see where his foot came down in the snow and it was right on the Boise State sideline so you can understand why Josh Goss decided that it wasn’t necessary to challenge the referee’s decision. It was a smart play by Pincus to push him out of bounds.”

“Whatever the case, the special teams are coming onto the field and Tyrone Havas is back to return it for the Green Wave.”

…

“The Green Wave offense takes the field at their own twenty-one after an eight yard return by Havas. We talked a lot about the Boise State offense in the pre-game, but Tulane’s offense led by their big three of Darren Eguia, Tyrone Havas, and Caesar Jenkins isn’t anything to scoff at.”

“No, not at all. They are averaging almost thirty-five points a game through their first eight games and keep in mind that their top players didn’t play the first two games and Jenkins didn’t make his season debut until three weeks ago. Let’s not forget that they also have Jason Williams and the sure handed senior Brandon Hawkins at tight end. This is a star studded squad.”

“Eguia’s in the shotgun with his usual running mate Havas. Jenkins is split out to the left along with Wendell Jones. Williams finds himself on the right side of the formation. Hawkins shifts into the backfield. Eguia gets the ball and hands it off to Havas on the sweep with the tight end out in front. After a short gain, he’s taken down by Trae Gore.”

…

“Short drop from Eguia and he gets it out to Jason Williams on the slant. The freshman is brought down by Jeffrey Archie, but he has the first down.”…

“Hand off to Havas, no Eguia takes it himself. He slips around the line, between the linebackers and dives forward for some extra yards. It looks like he got the first down.”

“That play was run to perfection by the senior quarterback. He rode the hand off until the very last moment before pulling out and taking it himself. The Boise State defense had moved so far to the play side that they should consider themselves lucky that he didn’t break for more yards than he did.”

…

“Eguia snaps it off to Caesar Jenkins and the sophomore easily makes the catch before being spun to the ground by Dan Olsen.”

“He’s so tall, he got five yards just from falling down. Impressive drive so far from the Green Wave.”

“Quickly back to the line for the Green Wave and an even faster snap. Eguia plants and throws to Hawkins who picks up what looks like three maybe four yards.”

“Tulane looks a lot more comfortable playing in the cold this year than they did last year against Syracuse, but the Broncos need to step up to the line and jam those receivers. Eguia is barely holding the ball for a second before throwing.”

“A little confusion down on the field as the Green Wave try to bring on their third and short package. Eguia is waving the fullback John Hicks off. They might have too many men on the field. The senior has to burn a timeout to get everything situated.”

“Darren Eguia is clearly frustrated, but it looks like Tulane may have been going too fast to keep up with themselves which isn’t something you see very often. I know the Boise State defense isn’t too unhappy with the break in the action.”

“Well, it’s time to get back to it and it looks like Tulane has worked out whatever problems they had before. Three receivers out wide and two running backs, Havas and Desmond Smith, in the backfield with Eguia. Here’s the snap, third and two. Boise State’s bringing the house and Eguia has to show off his dancing moves as he escapes the pocket, but Ken Bracken is on his heels. Bracken dives and catches one of Eguia’s feet sending him tumbling to the turf in the backfield. Fourth down, Green Wave.”

…

It had been almost a year since the last time the Green Wave were involved in a hard fought game. 2053 had definitely been an easy year for them so far, their closest game being a nine point win over Florida and that game was not as close as the scoreline led you to believe. However, the first two drives of this game was only a microcosm of what lay ahead.

For the first quarter and a half, neither team could figure out the others defense. In the rare occurrence they crossed the fifty yard line, they would immediately be bogged down and forced to punt the ball away.

The seldom-used Tulane punter, Steve Snyder, found himself being called into duty more than he had in any single game so far in his collegiate career.

Of course, football games are prone to produce points.

…

“Lamar Harper is back on his own thirty-five yard line to receiver Snyder’s punt. Boise State has ten men on the line and it looks like they are going to come after this one. The snap is good, but Snyder won’t have much time to get it off. He takes a few steps to his right and boots it away just as a Bronco dives to knock it away. It’s an awkward punt and it looks like he shanked it.”

Harper took a step back as the ball hit the turf five yards ahead of him. Ignoring the Tulane gunners who were bearing down on him, he let the ball bounce twice on the field before scooping it up on the third bounce.

A well timed juked in addition to the poor field conditions sent Bobby sliding across the field, taking out two other Tulane players in the process. The blue-clad returner took off down the field as his teammates began clearing a path for him.

He ran out of space around the Tulane forty and found himself fenced in by his own blockers engaged with the coverage team. After a bit of dancing around, he somehow squirted out of the pile. The volume in the stadium rose tenfold as they saw the open field in front of him.

Harper turned on the jets again as the Green Wave coaches shouted at their players to cut him off, but knew it would be up to the punter to make the touchdown saving tackle.

Snyder’s eyes grew wide as he saw Harper barreling towards him at full speed. He got turned around twice trying to stay in front of the much quicker player until he saw his chance to try to bring him down and dove at his ankles.

Predicting the move, Harper jumped over Snyder’s outstretched body leaving the punter with a face full of snow and blue turf. He waltzed into the endzone before turning around and jumping into the arms of his teammates.

“What a return by Lamar Harper! Boise State puts the first points on the board, halfway through the second quarter.”

“Steve Snyder can only blame himself. It was a poor rugby style kick that fell well short. Maybe he thought it was going to go out of bounds. Whatever the case, it was a bad decision by Snyder and they paid a hefty price with a touchdown the other way.”

…

The Tulane punt team receiving an earful from the coaching staff would be the last highlight of the first half as the teams headed into the locker room with the Broncos leading seven-nothing. It was a disheartening half for the Green Wave offense that couldn’t remember the last time they were held scoreless in a half.

Caesar’s head was hung the lowest of them all. He finished the half with two catches for an insignificant eight yards. The Broncos had focused on him so far. He had regained the respect of defensive coordinators after tearing through South Alabama, but he didn’t understand why he could find the space to get open.

One thing was for sure, he didn’t want to go through another week of listening to sports analysts remind him how horrible his sophomore season had been.

“Welcome back to ESPN College Football Primetime here in Boise for the beginning of the second half. The Broncos lead the Green Wave by seven in a surprisingly defensive struggle between two of the nation’s top offenses. What do you expect to see in the second half, Trey?”

“I think the Green Wave have a bigger mountain to climb than it seems. Their offense has been spinning its wheels all game and they don’t have the luxury of not putting points on the board anymore. They have to score on this first drive or the momentum will stay with the Broncos and that’s the last thing they need right now because Clayton Barr is known for his second half heroics. Don’t be surprised if you see them come out throwing haymakers. They let their undefeated season end too early last year and don’t want a repeat of it happening again.”

“Well, the special teams are on the field and we’re ready get the game underway again. Tyrone Havas is back on the goal line to return for the Green Wave. Cole Howe signals he is ready, and the ball is in the air to start the third quarter! Havas fields the ball at the five yard line. He makes his way down the sideline, dipping out of bounds at the thirty-one yard line.”

…

“Tulane starts the drive with a handoff to Tyrone Havas. He sprints around the edge and picks up five yards before being taken down.”

…

“Quick pass from Darren Eguia to Brandon Hawkins for a gain of seven yards.”

…

“Eguia drops back to pass again. He throws it to Jason Williams on the curl, but it’s too high, incomplete.”

…

“The quarterback takes himself right into the teeth of the defense for a six yard pickup.”

…

“Smith catches the swing pass and crosses midfield, spins around a defender and dragged down at the Broncos forty-one yard line. The Green Wave are really moving the ball on this drive.”

“They were moving the ball this well on their first drive, but that didn’t get them anywhere. They are going to have to get Caesar Jenkins more involved if they want to open up this Boise State defense and come away with points here.”

…

“Raphael Jefferson is on the receiving end of this Eguia pass. The sophomore stiff arms a defender, but it takes him out of bounds at the thirty-two.”

…

“Eguia drops back to pass again. The Broncos are bringing the heat, but Eguia is able to get out of the pocket. He pump fakes, plants his feet, and throws it towards the endzone… and Jason Williams pulls it in for the touchdown! The Green Wave are on the board!”

“It was a perfectly placed pass by Eguia. He put it where Williams was heading and gave the freshman time to get under it and make the easy catch. That’s what four years of experience looks like right there, ladies and gentlemen.”

…

“The Broncos offense is back on the field with Clayton Barr looking to match his counterpart with a touchdown of his own. Warren is going to take the handoff on first down and plow his way forward for a seven yard gain to the thirty-eight.”

…

“Toss to the backup, Roosevelt Anthony, and he gets five yards before being shoved out of bounds by Adrian Taylor.”

…

“Barr drops back and snaps off a pass to Freddie Bower. Devin King is there to make the tackle, but not before the senior drags him forward for a few extra yards. Gain of eleven for Boise State.”

…

“The quarterback fakes the handoff and rolls out to his left. He pump fakes, steps up, and heaves it downfield. Too far, incomplete.”

…

“Warren on the run. Four yard gain for the running back. Third down, Boise State.”

…

“Third and six for the Broncos and Clayton Barr is back in the shotgun, three receivers wide. The Green Wave are in their nickel package. Short drop by Barr. His line is holding up well. He winds up and launches the ball deep. Louis Wayne has a step on his man. Jason Rodriguez is trying to get over to make a play on the ball. It’s going to be close! Wayne has it! Rodriguez has taken himself out the play and Wayne is going to jog into the endzone for the touchdown. 14-7 Boise State!”

“Barr put that pass where only his man could get it, and showed a bit of touch to drop it between the corner and the safety.”

Devin kicked up a patch of grass in frustration. Wayne had lost him on his first of a pair of cuts and he wasn’t able to recover in time. He hadn’t expected the Broncos to try such a deep route. It was a terrible read on his part. A bad read which led to another touchdown for Boise State.

…

“Late in the third quarter, the Tulane offense takes the field once again and they are still down a touchdown. Both Tyrone Havas and Desmond Smith join Darren Eguia in the backfield with three receivers split out wide. Caesar Jenkins is sent in motion to the opposite side of the formation. Eguia gets the ball, fakes the handoff to Smith and rolls to his left. He throws it to Jenkins on the sideline and he makes the catch… with both feet in bounds! Hello, NFL!”

…

“The Green Wave are going back to the air again. Eguia scans the field. Steps up in the pocket to avoid the rush and gets the ball away on the move. Jason Williams makes the catch and makes a defender miss. He has some help down field. The Boise State defenders are scrambling to catch up to him. He’s at the fifty, the forty, the thirty, the twenty… pushed out of bounds at the fourteen yard line. Talk about lightening in a bottle!”

“The Boise State defenders broke off their coverage when they thought Eguia was going to pull the ball down and take off himself, and they found themselves out of position when Williams caught the ball. It doesn’t hurt that Tulane has some receivers who are excellent at blocking downfield. Caesar Jenkins and Wendell Jones paved the way for that play.”

“Tulane is already back at the line of scrimmage and Eguia is barking out commands as the Boise State defense tries to get back onsides. Eguia gets the snap, pump fakes to his left. Wait, what?! He held the ball behind his back and Havas took it right up the middle of the field. Touchdown Tulane! The Green Wave digging into their bag of tricks tonight.”

“The Statute of Liberty play, oh boy! Older Boise State fans will remember when they burst onto the national scene with the same play against Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl.”

…

Coach Xavier knelt in front of his offense as the defense faced a third down on the field. He looked around the semi-circle at the cold, tired faces of the players. The fourth quarter had been as hotly contested as the first half so far, and the war of attrition was beginning to take its toll on his unit. They had been running up and down the white and blue field and only had fourteen points to show for it.

“We have a little over three minutes left, gentlemen,” Xavier started, “If the defense stands strong here then we will probably have one last chance to take the lead. I don’t want a field goal. They will have enough time to match or beat that. We need a touchdown. You understand me?”

“Yes sir,” they said in unison.

“They are just as tired as you are, don’t worry about being a little slow off the line. Just make sure you are where you need to be when the ball gets to you. No matter what, you have to get rid of at least half of the clock so the defense doesn’t have to defend with their damn lives to keep the chance of us winning alive. We’re going to start the drive off with a couple of runs, but Darren if you see your chance to go down field then you take it.”

“I got it, coach,” the quarterback acknowledged.

“Get out there and get a f**ing touchdown, then.”

…

“The Green Wave take the field on their own twenty-five yard line with 2:47 remaining in a tied ball game. The stadium is absolutely rocking. I can barely hear myself up here in the booth! Eguia steps back into his place in the shotgun with Havas next to him. Havas gets the handoff to start things off on this drive. He shoots forward for a gain of five yards.”

“I don’t know why Tulane started with a run. Time isn’t exactly on their side of they want to win this game in regulation.”

“Tulane back at the line now on second and four, 2:19 and counting. Eguia takes it himself this time and picks up the first down and more, going down at the thirty-nine. He’s already up and hustling his team to line up.”

“They’ll have under two minutes now to get into field goal position, but luckily for them they have all their timeouts.”

“Eguia drops back and fires a quick pass to Jenkins. Jenkins stutter-steps and gets around Jeffery Archie pretty easily. He hops out of bounds after a gain of fifteen. There’ll be 1:49 left with the Green Wave at the Boise State forty-six.”

“They are making some pretty good time. They’re already close to being in range for a Max Longwell game winner.”

“Back to the ground with Havas, but he doesn’t manage to pick up the first down or get out of bounds. It’ll be second and one from the thirty-seven.”

“It doesn’t look like they are going to call a timeout yet.”

“Eguia steps back up to the line with the clock edging closer to a minute. The fans are going wild in an effort to will their defense to make a stop here. The ball is snapped, faked to Havas, and Eguia goes into his progressions. Throws it towards the endzone, and Caesar Jenkins brings it down for the score! Bronco Stadium has been stunned silent!”

“He’s such a big target that the cornerback had no chance to get to the ball once Jenkins made a play on it. Boise State will have fifty-one seconds and two timeouts to match the Green Wave’s touchdown. I think we are looking at an exciting finish!”

…

Devin lined up over the receiver, shaking his hands nervously. Clayton Barr had built his legacy on fourth quarter comebacks and game winning drives. Sure, you could say he didn’t play against elite competition, but when you have seven game winning or tying drives under your belt it didn’t matter who you were playing.

…

“Barr gets the snap, forty-five seconds and rolling. He doesn’t waste any time getting the ball out of his hands and to McAfee. The fifth year senior picks up as many yards as he can and quickly gets out of bounds with thirty-nine seconds left.”

“That was a good pickup of eighteen yards, but it only moved them to their forty-one yard line. Barr is going to have to hold the ball a little longer and go a little bit deeper down the field.”

“The ball’s back in Barr’s hands after a quick snap. He has to step up to avoid the rush, and throws it to Reed in the middle of the field.”

…

Devin reached around Reed’s body and tried to rip the ball away from him, but the receiver covered it with both hands and hung on for dear life as Devin swung him to the ground in a dying effort to jar it loose.

He glanced up at the game clock as he jogged into position for the next play. Twenty-seven seconds left and the Broncos only had thirty-six yards to go for the touchdown.

…

“Boise State isn’t calling one of their timeouts as Barr shepherds his team back to the line of scrimmage. The ball is snapped just as the referee signals for the clock to start again. Tulane is sending a blitz to throw the junior off his rhythm. Scott Garcia wraps Barr up, but he manages to stay on his feet long enough to throw the ball. Bower has the ball at the twenty yard line! He’s trying to get more! Juke left, stutter-step to the right. He breaks for the sideline, but Christian Pincus is there to cut him off and shove him out of bounds! The Broncos take their second timeout with sixteen seconds left and the ball on the eleven.”

“Clayton Barr has shown his ability to lead his team in crunch situations once again. With sixteen seconds, they have enough time to take a few shots at the endzone and with the ball on the eleven, they can actually get the first down without scoring.”

“It is certainly a favorable position to be in. What do you think Rock Hall is telling his team right now?”

“He may have already resigned himself to fact this game will likely be going into overtime. It’s going to take a huge play for the Green Wave to defend the endzone for four downs with the stakes so high.”

“The referee is calling the teams back to play and here we go with Barr back in the shotgun. Tulane has their dime package on the field. He sends Harvey Reed in motion. The junior barks out adjustments to the line and the receivers. Barr calls for the snap, and it’s a perfect one. He turns to his left and throws the fade to the corner of the endzone. McAfee easily pulls it in with the freshman Bobby Chambers on his back. Touchdown Boise State! Touchdown Boise State! Touchdown Boise State! We’re an extra point away from overtime!”

“Rock Hall is livid down on the sideline looking for a review of the last play. He doesn’t think that McAfee was able to drag his feet before falling out of bounds. Here’s the replay. It was a perfect pass from Barr and he caught the worst defensive back on the field in an impossible situation, and McAfee was indeed able to get his foot down.”

“The special teams were on their way on the field, but Tulane has called a timeout.”

…

“King, Pincus, Rodriguez, and Taylor, get over here!” Coach Hall shouted and the players formed up around him, “You four are goin’ in on this point after. Block that f***in’ kick, I don’t want to go to overtime here.”

…

“Tulane has sent their four starting defensive backs onto the field for this point after. It looks like they are going to pin their ears back and try to block this attempt, even Havas is out there on the line. You can hear a pin drop in this stadium right now, a stark contrast to the raucous crowd only moments ago. Wait a minute, the Broncos are changing the play…”

Just as Devin thought the kicker was going to call for the ball, the Broncos shifted into a four wide formation with the kicker on split out wide and Clayton Barr in the backfield. The Tulane special team scrambled to move into a better suited formation for the two-point try.

“Boise State looks to be going for two and the win here!”

“Josh Goss has always been a coach who wasn’t afraid to bet the house.”

“Barr has the ball and tries the fade again! This time to the right side of the field and Freddie Bower! Christian Pincus and Adrian Taylor are both there as well. Pincus jumps up and bats the ball away and Taylor cleans up Bower to ensure he doesn’t catch the ball on the rebound. It’s no good! Tulane is going to win! Tulane is going to win!”

“It was a well drawn up play, just not executed as well as it should have been. Throwing against two players with the ability of Pincus and Taylor should be the last option, especially on a two point try for the win.”

Devin ran across the field and jumped on Christian’s back as the Green Wave celebrated rebuffing the two point attempt. Coach Hall’s decision to put the team’s top four defensive backs on the field to block the extra point try turned out to be the decision that saved the team’s undefeated season for another week.

caesar got a touchdown, but that still might be enough to get those talking heads off his back. but when you miss 3/4 games due to behavioral issues, thats bound to happen. if anything, some news story might come out about that defense, almost letting Boise win. for shame.

Three games remained. Alabama, Mississippi State, and LSU were the last three teams standing between Tulane and an undefeated season. It would only take a win over the Crimson Tide to secure the Western Division title and a third consecutive berth in the conference’s championship game. Add in a win in Atlanta, and the Green Wave would be on the precipice of college football’s greatest honor—the National Championship.

A football National Championship would be a small part that went a long way in the athletic renaissance happening on Tulane’s campus. The basketball team was looking to grab a ticket to the Big Dance in March this season and the baseball team was National Title contenders as well. It was a pretty exciting time for the New Orleans collegiate athletics scene.

And yet, Caesar was sitting at his desk giving all his attention to a paper football he’d been flicking at the wall for the last thirty minutes. He was the epitome of a bored young man. Tyrone was off doing the boyfriend thing and Darren… he actually didn’t know where the quarterback was. He just knew Darren had told him he was going to be busy for the better part of the day.

Given the circumstances, he really shouldn’t have been bored, other emotions yes, but bored shouldn’t have been one of them. Any other day, he’d have no problem with the dark haired girl on her knees with a certain part of him in her mouth giving a valiant effort at a blowjob for fifteen minutes. She was pretty good at it after, the reason he kept her around in fact. At the moment, he just wanted her to get up or she’d be at this for hours.

Plucking the small triangle at the window, he looked down at Sophie and sighed to himself, “Get up.”

She stopped and looked up at him confused, “Is something wrong?”

“Yep,” he said, backing away from her and pulled his shorts up, “I’m not feeling this right now. I don’t want you f***ing up your jaw for no reason then you’d be of no use to me.”

“Well, gee thanks,” she snapped. Getting to her feet, she walked over to his bed and sat down. She used the back of her hand to wipe her mouth and stared angrily at him as he started flicking that idiotic triangle of paper again, “Are you sure you’re not losing your touch? I’m sure you know this already but just to remind you, there are pills and surgery for that type of thing.”

“Please, Sophie. Are you for f***ing real? If anyone is losing their touch, it’s you. I have no problems getting it up when I’m in the mood. You’re in here for something, aren’t you? I can tell you this. It’s not because of my amazing conversation.”

“You’re a prick, you know that?”

He shrugged as he tossed the makeshift football into a waste bin on the other side of the room, “But yet, you are still here. I wonder why.”

Honestly, he didn’t want her to leave. He would eventually want sex and for some reason Hayden worked later on Mondays. Why wait for his “girlfriend” when he had a perfectly fine piece of ass already sitting on his bed? Perfect because she wanted the same thing he did otherwise she wouldn’t be here. He’d just have to keep him mouth shut for a while and let her cool down.

Predictable and easy to please were the only two decent qualities that came to mind when he tried to describe Sophie. In a way, it was a good thing but she had a tendency to be more trouble than she was worth. Unfortunately, the last time he went out to find another girl to bed regularly, he got the worst news of his life. He didn’t need a repeat of that, not in a million years.

“You know I barely know anything about you.”

Caesar looked over his shoulder at her, his eyebrow raised at the strange comment and the suddenness of it, “What are you talking about?”

“I mean, I don’t really know you. Of course, I know the things everyone in the world knows and what I know from Kaley but I don’t know you personally,” she elaborated, “You take away the sex and mutual acquaintances and we’d be perfect strangers.”

“Well, whose fault is that?” he asked.

“Obviously, yours. I’ve tried to get you to open up, but you refuse to.”

She wasn’t wrong, but she was forgetting her place. Of course, he didn’t open up to her. She knew what she needed to know and that was sufficient enough.

However, it was also a defensive mechanism for him.

The two real relationships in his life had been intense, intense and emotionally draining. The more recent one probably teetered closer to destructive. It was a problem. If he didn’t do something to distance himself in relationships, like being the textbook definition of an unfaithful boyfriend, he’d get too close and nothing good would come of it.

“Do you treat the redhead the same way?”

“The redhead?” Caesar laughed, “She has a name, you know.”

Sophie rolled her eyes, “I’m sure she does and I’m sure it’s a wonderful name, but I didn’t ask about that. I asked if you are this stand offish with her.”

“No, Hayden has the nice little title females so desperately need, so obviously she gets a little more than my name and how old I am,” he said, using his hands to put air quotes around the word title.

“Oh that’s interesting, but I’m sure she doesn’t know your entire life story like the last girl who the title as you so eloquently put it. I guess that makes sense, though.”

“Makes sense? What are you talking about, now? Are you really that mad that I didn’t bust a nut down your throat? I thought must girls were disgusted by that type of s***, but obviously you can only get off with a stomach full of it.”

Sophie sprung up from the bed, “No, I’m just trying to open your f***ing eyes to how much of a f***ing idiot you are. You’re like your own f***ed up version of Humpty Dumpty. All the world’s women and all the universe’s p**** can’t put Caesar Jenkins’ broken heart back together again.”

“Have you been doing f***ing drugs again, Sophie? You’re speaking nonsense. I told you that s*** was going to mess you up.”

“You don’t need to worry about what I’m doing. You made it quite clear I’m only here for sex. I was just wondering when you are with me or the redhead, do you imagine you’re with Kaley? It’s obvious you’re still hung up on her.”

Caesar shook his head, refusing to let what she was saying get to him. She was probably mad at something else and just taking her frustrations on him, “You can leave if it’s bothering you that much, Sophie.”

She started towards the door but stopped and turned back towards him, jabbering her finger at him, “It’s a bit hard to deal you with, Caesar. You’re head stuck so far up your ass. Sure the sex is good, but it’d be good to have a little passion in it from time to time. You might want to get over Kaley, because she has for damn sure gotten over you. Soon enough, she’ll have an upgrade.”

Sophie gave him a victorious smirk when she didn’t think he was going to respond. She turned and opened the door, but in two long strides Caesar had crossed the room and reached over her to slam the door shut.

He watched her turn around slowly and sink back against the door as he towered over her, “You listen and you listen closely, bitch. No man on this f***ing planet is an upgrade to me. I am the best option for ANY woman especially Kaley and she knows that, YOU know that. They’ve always come back and they always will come back to me. So, you just feel privileged that I let you suck my d*** and I f*** you a couple times a week.”

He took a step back and reached around her causing her to flinch away from him involuntarily, but he only opened the door for her and waved his hand for her to leave.

“Oh, and Sophie?” he called as she took a few steps out into the hall, “Keep that little bit between us. Don’t want anyone thinking I’m living a lie, telling people I’m over someone I’m not or anything like that.”

She opened her mouth to say something, but was quickly shut up when the door slammed in her face. Dumbfounded, she made her way down the hall. She didn’t expect that to see him go through all those emotions all at once.

“We’re up to number two!”

Many people believed the preseason polls didn’t matter outside of the advantage of the top teams. The top five or ten teams could all afford an early loss and sneak their way back into the top ten or even the top five by the end of the season. Tulane was a team that did not begin with that luxury, starting the season at number eighteen. An early loss would have sent them tumbling out of the top twenty-five.

However, it was the eleventh week of the season and Bobby wasn’t look at just any poll. He was looking at the BCS poll, the holy grail of polls. Being number three in the BCS poll after conference championship week was basically a death sentence, exclusion from the National Championship game. Now, the Green Wave wouldn’t have to worry about that.

They were in the top two, USC above them at number one and Ohio State below them at number three. Three of the four undefeated teams which remained in the country, Troy being the fourth but the Trojans were well outside of Championship contention.

“You sound so excited, Chambers. I almost thought you lost your virginity or something,” Derrick chided as he looked over Bobby’s shoulder at the tablet on his lap. They along with Devin, Christian, Scott, and Jason sat at a bench in the courtyard outside the athletic dorm, enjoying the weather.

“We still have to win four more games before we can even start thinking about playing for the National Championship,” Christian said solemnly as he glanced at the tablet as well. Leave it to the senior leader of the defense to be the one who was painfully honest, “Alabama, LSU and whoever we play in the SEC Championship game are going to give us trouble.”

Scott laughed from the opposite side of the bench, “LSU? Really, Christian? I seriously doubt that a team that won’t even be bowl eligible by the time they play us are going to do anything other than roll over and take their ass whupping like the bitches they are.”

“Damn right, the Rag is going to stay in New Orleans for another year!” Jason shouted giving the linebacker a high five over Devin’s head who was sitting between them.

“What do you think, Devin?” the youngest of the five asked.

Devin pulled the hood of his hoodie up over his head and shoved his hands into the pockets, “I think it’s f***ing cold. It was freezing f***ing cold in Boise and it is freezing f***ing cold in Louisiana. Can I not escape the damn cold for a few days?!”

“Come on, Devin. If you didn’t want to be cold, you should have gone bury yourself in that bitch you are always with,” Derrick joked, “I’m sure that chick can fit at least have your body inside of her snatch.”

“Throwing a hotdog down a hallway,” Scott added.

“Good thing she lets me throw it in the other hole from time to time,” Devin said plainly as he took his hands out of his pockets and blew on his fingers in an effort to warm them up.

“She what?!” Jason and Bobby both yelled in shock.

Devin raised an eyebrow, “I’m pretty sure you heard me the first time.”

“I think they just want to hear it again for clarification,” the senior cornerback explained, “I’d imagine neither of them have gone there before.”

“I’d imagine you haven’t either with those Asian girls,” Jason shot back, “Anyway, I never saw you as the type of man who would go in through the back door, Devin.”

“I never saw myself as a man who would go in through the backdoor,” Devin said using Jason’s phrase for the act, “But when all you do is have sex with a person, there are only so many different positions you can go through before it starts to get boring.”

“I don’t know how you guys get all this p****,” Bobby mumbled.

“It’s because we don’t suck,” Derrick said throwing an arm around the freshman’s shoulders, “Enough about Devin f***ing that poor girl in the ass, though. I want to know what kind of party we are planning for when we come back from Atlanta with the SEC Championship. I think we should hop in the cars and go out to Florida or something.”

Christian shook his head. He still didn’t want to start counting his chickens before they hatched, but he had no problem planning a trip to celebrate an undefeated season if they did happen to pull it off. It was something he had been waiting for four years. Derrick could easily relate to his desire to have his name on one of the few unblemished seasons in Tulane history.

“I’m with you guys,” Jason threw in, “I love Florida. I like Louisiana, but Florida has the sexiest women in the country, man. So, let me know when we are loading up and I’ll gladly drive all the way there just for the damn women.”

“I suppose I’ll tag along as long as I’m not the f***ing thirteenth wheel again,” Bobby said angrily. He was still bitter about their trip to Grand Isle. He only had himself to blame. Before they left, Devin had tried, albeit in vein, to hook him up with Laura.

“Well while I’d have no problem going with you fellas, I’m probably going to go to Florida anyway,” Christian started, “Sue’s parents want to meet me. You know, make sure I’m an upstanding young man and all that s***.”

“Or feed you some cat-dog,” Scott laughed, earning himself a slap in the back of the head from Christian.

Devin shook his head at the banter. He honestly believed Christian found solstice in the fact that very few of his teammates shared his tastes in women. Unlike the other ninety-some odd players, he didn’t have to worry about how many times a girl had gone through the locker room before she got to him. Devin on the other hand, had to grapple with the demon every time he had sex with Rose.

“I’m going to sit this one out,” Devin said, finally putting in his two cents on the trip, “I don’t really like taking vacations to places that are exactly like Louisiana. It makes the trip not feel like a vacation if the weather is the same.”

“Florida is nothing like Louisiana!” Jason shouted.

“Rodriguez is right,” Scott agreed.

Devin immediately tuned them out as they started listing all the reasons that the Sunshine State was better than the Pelican State. He was cold and more importantly, they still had to get through four more games before the supposed trip would be at the top of his priority list.

caesar showing a little bark there, mr. sensitive. thinking about kaley during sex may or may not have been happening, but it will now. and outside of devins brash comment, glad to see him and christian more focused on the task at hand than planning their celebration trip. the team will need that when the seniors leave, someone to carry that focus.

Brady Rodgers strolled through the halls of Joliet Catholic Academy as if he didn’t have a care in the world. The truth was that he really didn’t. The Hilltoppers had won their first playoff game last Friday with a 72-10 dismantling of Morton High. The senior’s seven touchdown performance had upgraded him from All-American to All-World in the eyes of the country’s top recruiting analysts.

He could lie to himself and say he was focusing on the playoffs, but that wouldn’t be anywhere near the truth. Joliet was heavily favored to blow through every and any team they could possibly play. But they didn’t need to be informed of that fact, the Hilltoppers had more than a few Division I athletes on their depth chart in addition to Brady.

No, his mind was on college football. More importantly, where he would be playing his college football.

Today would be the day that he finally make his decision on where he would do just that. His family, friends, and coach all wanted him to wait until after the State Championship, but he had already made his choice and felt it didn’t make sense to drag the entire process on another month. Besides, he wanted to enroll for the Spring semester and waiting until February to commit might hinder that.

He stepped into the library where the school had decided to hold the official announcement of his choice. He had no problem with a small gathering, but Joliet had gone all out in getting as many members of the press into the room as possible. His family and coach were sat at a table towards the back of the room where he was to announce his decision.

Greeting all those present, he made his towards the back of the room and took the seat between his parents.

His father put a hand on his shoulder to get his attention, “Are you sure that you are ready to do this, son?”

Brady answered with a small smile and a nod. He cleared his throat and the coach quieted everyone down for him.

“First of all, I’d like to thank everyone for coming here today. I could imagine listening to a seventeen year old kid decide where he was going to go to college wasn’t high on your priority list,” he said getting a few laughs from the room, “I guess this should have been first so excuse me for this, but I have to thank God for the ability that he has blessed me with. Without him, none of this would have been possible. I’d also like to thank my parents for always being there for me. Who knows where I would have been without out them. I know some people aren’t as blessed as I have been through my life and I consider myself very fortunate.”

“This has been a long and tough decision for me as many of the top universities in the country offered me a scholarship. Regardless of who I choose today, I want all the coaches I’ve talked to or met with to know that I appreciated you taking the time out of your day to recruit me. A few weeks ago after completing my visits, I narrowed my list down to three schools; USC, Tulane, and Ohio State. All of these schools have everything I wanted in a university to call home. Most importantly, they made me feel like I was not only joining a football team but also joining a family. Of course, my mom would have liked if I included Illinois in the final three,” he said flashing a smile towards his mother who shook her head, but still had a huge smile on her face as well. She was extremely proud of what her son had achieved

“I’m not usually a cocky person, but with the team already in place at the university I have chosen, I believe that I have a very high chance to win three National Championships and maybe a couple Heismans with all the weapons that will be at my disposal,” Brady continued as the reporters furiously wrote down his every word, “So without further ado, I’m here today to announce that I will be attending…

…Tulane University.”

Erik walked out of the Broussard Center and sat his bag on the ground to pull his jacket onto his shoulders. He tried to get in a good workout, but it wasn’t going to happen for him. His body was in it, he had no problem lifting this or benching that, but his mind wasn’t. Like the rest of the team, the long season was finally beginning to take its toll on LSU’s Thorpe Award candidate.

The Thorpe Award was LSU’s award, Defensive Back U’s Award. Ever since the likes of LaRon Landry, Patrick Peterson, Morris Claiborne, and Tyrann Mathieu walked down Victory Hill every Saturday, LSU had always been known to have a strong defensive backfield with one player standing out over the others. Erik just so happened to be the best defensive back at Defensive Back U.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have much time to dwell on the few positives coming from LSU’s 2053 season as the horde of reporters descended upon the lone player who’d wandered out of the building. They had been shunned by the coaching staff and the team for the last few weeks, not by some order that they avoid them but for the simple reason that didn’t want to read anymore headlines about how terrible the team had become in such a short time.

He knew he should have sat in the lounge and waited for them to get the idea that no one really wanted to talk to them.

“Can we get a word, Erik?” one reporter asked, shoving a recorder into his face.

He gently moved the man’s hand away from him so he could have some room, “I don’t think I have much of a choice, do I? I’m sure if I tried to make a break for it y’all would follow me. Is that enough of a word for you?”

“Well, since you already started talking then you might as well answer a few questions for us. It’s not like we’re going to ask you anything that you haven’t already refused to answer,” the same man said cheekily.

“If you must,” Erik shot back dismissively.

“What have you heard about the rumors that Coach Battaglia will not be completing the season as LSU’s head coach?” a second reporter asked. It had been a recurring question for the past three or four weeks. For some reason, it was easy to believe that a coach who had only lost eleven games in the nine years he’d been at a school would be fired for one poor season. There was only one way to respond to that question now.

“It’s complete bulls***, that’s what I’ve heard,” he snapped.

“This past Saturday in Oxford you were seen arguing with a few players on the sideline, one of them on more than a handful of occasions. Care to explain what you were discussing?”

Erik shook his head, “You mean Santiago? Nope, I’m not going to explain what we were discussing. It doesn’t matter anyway, it wasn’t our first time arguing with one another and it’s not going to be our last arguing with one another. So, you can write whatever you want about that.”

He didn’t want anyone to take off with that and turn it into some article about the team tearing itself apart even though it was entirely true. Every chance he got, he laid into Hasan and let him know what he really thought about his lack of effort on the field or his poor attitude. He didn’t like the running back much before, now it was bordering on downright hate especially when Hasan chose to compare him to his brother and his “I’m better than you” attitude. That kid just didn’t know how lucky he was that they were on the same team. Sometimes, Erik would love nothing more than knocking some sense into him with his fists.

“Tulane looks to be unstoppable. LSU is 3-6. No one is predicting LSU wins any of their last three games, but the Green Wave are expected to win in a romp. Do you think it’s time to pack it in and start getting some younger players some experience?”

“Come here,” Erik said beckoning for all the reporters to follow him to the other side of the street so they could see the historic façade of Tiger Stadium. The windows of the legendary dorms that Huey P. Long used as a cover to build his stadium for his school. The King Fish didn’t ask for what he wanted. The King Fish took what he wanted, “You see those flags up there?”

The crowd of reporters looked up to where he was pointing. He took a moment, watching the six flags flutter in the breeze rolling off the nearby Mississippi River. A river that was as mighty as the football team that played only a couple miles from its banks.

“Those are our National Championships if you didn’t know already. 1958, 2003, 2007, 2019, 2027, and 2038. Six National Championships. You know how many Tulane has? No? Let me tell you. None. We have twenty-three SEC Championships. You know how many Tulane has? Probably not, since the three they won were all before 1950. Yes, over a hundred years ago. So what Tulane is ‘unstoppable’ in 2053, LSU has been unstoppable since the Chinese Bandits were a weird concept thought up so Paul Dietzel’s players didn’t get tired,” he continued pausing again to glance back at the flags. They were a symbol of the school’s success, but he thought it was time for a couple more.

“So-“

He raised his hand up cutting off whoever was about to talk, “I’m not finished. You know what? I’m not going to ‘pack it in.’ We’re not going to ‘pack it in.’ I want you to listen closely. I don’t care if I have to play every position on defense. I don’t care if I have to play every position on offense. I don’t care if I have to kick and punt the ball myself. I don’t care if we are playing the Middle Arkansas School for Truckers or a true all-star team from the NFL. I will give ten thousand percent every week and every player on this team will give ten thousand percent if I have something to say about it. Next week against Auburn, we’re going to win. The week after against Arkansas, we’re going to win. The last week against Tulane, right here in Baton Rouge, right here in this stadium, you best believe we’re going to win. Then when we’re bowl eligible and Tulane is licking their wounds because they choked again. You’ll know what unstoppable really looks like. Now, write that s*** down.”

“Yes, sir. No problem, sir. Thank you for calling me.”

Daniel sighed as he hung up his phone and threw it on the pillow next to him. He had been getting calls from coaches all day, coaches who had cashed in their chips on the Brady Rodgers sweepstakes now that the Illinois product had verbally committed to Tulane. There was no rule that coaches couldn’t continue to recruit a player who had only given a verbal to a school, but most believed it was only ethical to do so.

The new calls didn’t bother him. He knew if the illustrious Brady Rodgers committed before him that he’d get a few more scholarship offers from coaches who didn’t have the balls to attempt to snatch a recruit from Tulane… like they were some big name on the college football scene. They weren’t untouchable. They hadn’t proven anything other than that they can bring in big recruits and still seem to choke away any chance at a National Championship.

So, he was a little bitter. He had every right to be. Eric Xavier called him three hours ago, a couple hours after the news of Rodgers’ verbal broke. The man who forced him into the fire with Caesar Jenkins, Devin King, and Hasan Santiago. The man who’s job he had saved his junior year by winning a few games more than were expected. The man who had his damn job at Tulane partly because of him.

Eric Xavier called him to inform him that in light of the verbal commitments of Rodgers’ and Jaron Stephens, a junior college sophomore who had been kicked out of TCU, that Tulane would no longer be offering him a full scholarship unless Rodgers or Stephens backed out of their commitments, but he was welcome to walk-on to the team and compete for a roster spot.

Walk-on? That was rich. Why the hell would he want to walk on at Tulane behind not only Rodgers and Stephens, but also Chance Young and Bryan Tatum, a redshirt freshman, who already had some experience under their belts with the Green Wave’s offense? He’d have to be out of his damn mind to risk being designated the fifth-string quarterback or switched to receiver with the stable of receivers they had.

In just as many words, he told Eric Xavier to shove his offer of being a preferred walk-on up his ass. He was not going to walk-on. He was not going to grayshirt. He was not going to redshirt and sit on the bench for four seasons carrying someone’s clipboard. He had offers to be a starter. He was good enough to be a starter. He DESERVED to be a starter.

After that phone conversation, he decided that he was going to send a few ripples through the college football world. He had scholarship offers from some of the more down-trodden teams in the automatic qualifying conferences, starting jobs if he chose to take them. It took him all of thirty minutes to decide on who he’d give his verbal to. It wasn’t like it wasn’t something that he could break later.

He grabbed his phone and scrolled through the contacts until he found the name he was looking for, Malcolm Bryant, Oklahoma State’s offensive coordinator.

Oklahoma State had been on hard times since Deion Jenkins had left the school. Winning seasons were few and far between and Oklahoma had reclaimed their spot as the top school in the Sooner State. Hell these days, the Cowboys may have been third behind Tulsa.

Of course, they vaulted back into headlines when Caesar Jenkins was supposed to follow his father’s footsteps in turning the school’s fortunes around. Unfortunately, Caesar ultimately decided to attend Tulane leaving Head Coach and former Oklahoma State receiver Jack Stone without a star player to build his offense around.

Daniel was about to change that.

“Hello?” the phone connected after the third ring.

“Hello, sorry for calling you so late, sir. It’s Daniel Jackson.”

“Oh, it’s not a problem, Daniel. I was just leaving my office. What can I do for you?”

“I was just calling to tell you that I plan on attending on Oklahoma State.”

The man laughed, “Do you want me to take that as a soft verbal until Tulane comes knocking at your door again?”

“You can take it as a hard commitment until I can sign a letter of intent.”

“Well, call me tomorrow after six and we’ll talking about getting you here for the spring semester. We have a lot of work to do if we want to turn this program around.”

i dont see caesar transferring. pretty sure he laid out some strong points of not wanting to follow his father. and those were some pretty bold and strong words by Eric right there. doubt they back it up though. even with tulane's offense up and down, looking like the defense has been shutting it down. the x-factor is the brady kid. will he favor caesar or jason for the next 2 years? thatll cause some friction in the locker room id wager.

“We’re back live on ESPN. In Tuscaloosa, Alabama, I’m Jeffrey Felder here with Amir Rutledge. Today’s game has so many storylines that you can write an entire novel about it. The twenty-first ranked Alabama Crimson Tide, currently sitting at 6-3, are suddenly in the role of David as the second-ranked and undefeated Tulane Green Wave roll into town. While the Crimson Tide will be attempting to pull off a small upset, the Green Wave have a few other things on the line besides extending their winning streak to eleven games. A win today and Tulane will punch their ticket to Atlanta and the SEC Championship. They will also keep their hopes of a National Championship berth alive. Should they lose, their conference aspirations will be put on hold for a week and their dreams of a hoisting the crystal ball may vanish into thin air. How do you think this one is going to go Amir?”

“Well Jeffrey, the Green Wave are heavy favorites for good reason. Usually when a top team falls late in the season it’s because they breezed through every game up until the loss, but that’s not the case for this Tulane team. They survived their first test of the season last week against Boise State and Florida gave them a run for their money before falling to the wayside late in the game. This is a powerful offense we’re talking about and the defense isn’t anything to scoff at either. The Tide are going to have to be on their toes if they want to make this a game.”

“Last season’s game was a shootout, a very un-SEC-like shootout with the Green Wave coming out on top 51-49. A lot of people refereed to the game as Caesar Jenkins’ coming out party as he shattered the Tulane record for receiving yards in a single game. What do the Crimson Tide had to do to stop the score from going into basketball figures?”

“Jenkins isn’t have the same type of season that he did as a freshman. It’s something that has been said a billion times. We all know this, but that’s why you have more than one wide receiver. Personally, I’m tired of beating a dead horse. This game won’t be anywhere near that high scoring because this Tulane defense is much much better than they get credit for. Some teams like to boast one All-American at every level of the defense. A tough defensive tackle who commands double teams, a senior linebacker, and a ball hawk defensive back. That makes for a good defense. This defense has nine starters who can legitimately be called All-Americans. That’s just ridiculous.”

Time slowed down as the quarterback began his drop. The tackle picked up the defensive end leaving a clean path into the backfield. It was hard not to feel like one of the many predators in the jungle stalking its prey, except this was a football field not the African Savanna. Animals usually had a better sense of impending danger.

Unfortunately, Skyler Hunt was not an animal out on the African Savanna.

Devin mentally licked his lips as he neared the quarterback. He was coming from the quarterback’s blind side. He wouldn’t be attempting to wrap up his opponent this time. Aiming for the middle of the white eight on Hunt’s back, he ran straight through him.

It was a clean hit, but he could hear the air being forced from Hunt’s lungs as soon as contact was made. By some miracle, the redshirt sophomore signal caller was able to hold onto the ball… or the ball had been stuck to him by the force of the hit.

“Huge sack from the sophomore stud at cornerback, Devin King, to begin the game!”

“King has been a jack of all trades for the Green Wave all season and I have to say I’m impressed with how he has handled the workload. Need a sack? Call on King. Need a pick? Call on King. You almost forget there is a guy projected to go in the top ten of next year’s draft playing opposite him.”

“You know what they say about good teams. They don’t rebuild, they reload.”

…

“Darren Eguia drops back for the Green Wave’s first play of the game. Alabama is only sending four men to pressure and the Tulane offensive line easily beats them away. Eguia pats the ball impatiently as he looks for an open receiver. He pump fakes, fakes again, and fakes a third time. Caesar Jenkins is calling for the ball and the quarterback gets out to him. The sophomore makes the catch at the forty-one and is immediately taken down. Gain of twelve on the play.”

“You have to pick your poison with Eguia. Bring too much pressure and he’ll run. Don’t bring enough pressure and that’ll happen. I say send the house. At least, if you send a blitz you can bring him down in the backfield before he throws it.”

“He’s really a defensive coordinator’s worst nightmare.”

…

“The Green Wave are going back to the air after a series of runs and this time the Tide are coming on the blitz. Eguia gets the ball away quickly to Jason Williams out near the sideline. Williams cuts towards the middle of the field. Picks up a couple blocks and goes back towards the sideline, and Martell Jefferson makes the touchdown saving tackle at the five yard line.”

…“Tyrone Havas takes the handoff and waltzes into the endzone for six.”

“That was a nice balanced drive by the Green Wave. When the defense expected a run, they passed. When the defense expected a pass, they ran it. It was a textbook example of how to keep the defense guessing and on their toes.”

…

“Hunt has his pass intercepted by Jason Rodriguez! Rodriguez gets tackled at the Tulane thirty-nine yard line with his offense ready to put more points on the board.”

“Hunt didn’t even attempt to look off Rodriguez. He stared Lee Harrison down and the safety read his eyes and made him pay for it. These are the type of mistakes we didn’t see from the Crimson Tide last year with Lawrence Walter running the show.”

…

“Eguia winds up and launches a rainbow up to Caesar Jenkins. Jenkins jumps and twists his body around to make the catch. Somehow, he comes down on his feet. Reynaldo Cannon tries to bring him down, but Jenkins throws him aside with relative ease. He’s off and running. Bradley Fitz dives at his feet, but Jenkins leaps over him and there’s nothing but green in front of him! Walking into the endzone for a sixty-one yard touchdown!”

“I don’t know if we can still say that Jenkins is on a slump. He now has five touchdowns in his last three games. Just think, if he didn’t have to serve that four game suspension to begin the season we could be talking about this kid being a Biletnikoff contender. For now, we’re just going to have be in awe of this combination of size, strength and speed.”

…

“Midway through the second quarter and the Crimson Tide are one down away from squandering their first chance at a touchdown in this game. Third and seven from the Tulane nineteen yard line. Skyler Hunt is in the shotgun with three receivers spread out wide. Hunt gets the ball and rolls to his left. It looks like the Green Wave are in a cover two. The Tulane defensive backs are daring Hunt to throw, but Hunt’s still looking. He’s running out of time annnnnnd he’s brought down in the backfield by Clint Bingham.”

“That’s the definition of a coverage sack. Hunt couldn’t find anywhere to throw the ball and the beating he’s been getting from the Green Wave defenders kept him in the backfield long enough for Bingham to get to him and take him down. You can have the best offensive line in the world, but if they are made to block for more than a few seconds at a time then you end up with a quarterback on his back.”

“Here comes Teddy McCloud and the Alabama kicking team to attempt to put some points on the board for the Crimson Tide.”

…

“14-3 and the Green Wave are threatening to score again. Eguia drops back to pass and the Tide are sending a blitz. Eguia steps up into the pocket and flicks a short pass to Wendell Jones. Jones slips in between blockers and gets out into the open. Williams is doing a good job of holding back a corner downfield and Jones is just following the leader. Jones cuts towards the inside, but Fitz is closing him down. OH! Crushing block from Jenkins and Jones is going to be able to get into the endzone untouched.”

“That’s what I love so much about this team. Not only is it ridiculously talented, but their players understand the meaning of teamwork. Jenkins didn’t have to hustle across the field like that and he definitely didn’t have to put that much into the block, but he did. Most teams wouldn’t have two dominant receivers who were willing to block downfield like that.”

…

Jason shook his head at Caesar as the two receivers jogged off the field, “You need to work on your blocking technique, buddy. One of these days you are going to try to throw yourself at someone and they are going to destroy you.”

The sophomore raised an eyebrow, “No, you need to take some lessons from me. That soft dancing s*** that you were doing over there was going to get Wendell tackled or worse. Though, I understand if you don’t want to break a nail. I know some receivers like to live up to that prima-receiver stereotype.”

“You know one time I heard this saying about the pot calling the kettle black. It’s not good to project the views of yourself onto others, Jenkins.”

“Sure thing, Freud,” Caesar laughed before pushing his way to the bench.…

“Only a minute left in the game and the Green Wave are up 27-13 over the Crimson Tide. Alabama has the ball and the contingent of Tulane fans are cheering louder than the few Tide fans remaining in Bryant Denny?”

“Are they chanting SEC?”

“For some reason, I don’t think it’s the usual ‘the SEC is better than you’ chant. Remember, Tulane is a minute away from clinching the division.”

Devin looked over his shoulder at the olive and blue clad fans, screaming and chanting at the top of their lungs. He never thought he would see the day when an SEC team’s fans would chant “SEC” in another SEC team’s stadium. The meaning was clear, though. You just had to read the various signs proclaiming the Green Wave the best team in the conference.

The backups were on the field to finish off the game so the starting defense took over the role of cheerleaders as they ordered the fans to chant louder.

Devin just lounged back on the bench. Three more wins and he could allow himself a few days of relaxation.

“This is going to be the last play of the game with only three seconds remaining on the clock. Auburn is on the LSU fifteen yard line trailing 14-10. Auburn is spreading the field with four receivers, but they have been struggling to throw the ball all game and with the little space they have now, it’s not going to be any easier.”

“It’s a tough situation for both teams. If LSU drops too many men into coverage they may allow Auburn to walk into the endzone and win the game. If they bring too many men or play straight man coverage, one of Auburn’s receivers may get open.”

“It’s also do-or-die for LSU. A loss here will knock them out of bowl contention and they will be spending their winter licking their wounds from a terrible season. Terry Sims takes his place in the shotgun. You might want to turn away folks. This isn’t for the faint of heart. Jordan-Hare Stadium is deathly quiet as Sims gets the ball from center. LSU sends five to pressure him. The rest of the defense has dropped back to the goal line or deeper into the endzone. It’s going to be hard for Sims to get it into there. The clock has expired now so only a defensive penalty will give Auburn another chance. Sims pump fakes, but no one bites. He steps up in the pocket. Brings it down… he’s going to take it himself!”

Erik was standing on the goal line as Sims took off with the ball. The quarterback ran for the pylon and Erik mirrored his move. He had the angle on him. He just had to hope that he was faster than the Auburn signal caller.

A roar of cheers gradually went around the stadium as the two players barreled towards each other. The side judge’s eyes were riveted to the play that was going to end in front of him and with good reason, it was going to be a photo finish.

Flashbulbs went off as Sims left his feet at the two yard line. They were followed by the tell-tale crack of pads and helmets hitting one another as Erik threw himself at the quarterback to stop him from getting into the endzone.

The two players landed in a heap out of bounds only inches away from the side judge who had to scramble out of the way or be involved in the pile up. All eyes were now on him as the other officials ran over.

“The referees are discussing. It looks like… the side judge is marking Sims down at the one-inch line! No touchdown! Everybody wearing blue and orange is in an uproar right now, but the head referee Steve Winter is making his way over to the replay booth to get another look at the play.”

Erik sat up and glanced back at the still-standing pylon. To him, it seemed like Sims had managed to break the plane but he wasn’t going to voice his opinion to anyone. He would wait on pins and needles like everyone else until the referee made his decision.

He really didn’t want to eat his words so soon after making a statement like he did only a few days ago. He would never live it down. He already had enough links to his idiot brother. He didn’t need to be known as someone who also made empty guarantees.

After what seemed like an eternity, Winter jogged to the middle of the field.

“After review, it was confirmed that the ball did not break the plane. The runner was ruled down at the one-half yard line. Time has expired. Game over.”

Boos and obscenities followed the officiating crews hasty retreat from Jordan-Hare Stadium. Erik didn’t mind at all as he laid back on the turf. He just hoped it wouldn’t take any last seconds heroics to beat Arkansas.

lot of chest puffing from Tulane from all areas. overconfident people get brought back down to earth sooner or later. and that (blown?) call might be what LSU needs to get some mojo into the team to make the tulane matchup a good one.